A lump of reserve

If you’ve been in Japan for a while you’ve probably heard the phrase 遠慮 (enryo). It basically means to hesitate, to have reserve, or to constrain yourself.

It can be used in many ways…

To refuse an offer…

Kid 1: 明日またカラオケ行こうよ！ - ashita mata karaoke ikouyo! - Let’s go to Karaoke again tomorrow!

Kid 2: えっ、また？行きたいけど、遠慮しとくわ。- eh? mata? ikitaikedo, konkai ha enryo shitokuwa. - Eh? Again!? I want to go but I’ll pass this time.

To tell someone not to hold back…

うわぁぁぁ〜ステーキだ！- uwaaaaaaa suteeki da! - Wow! Steak!

遠慮せずに食べてください。- enryo sezuni tabetekudasai - Don’t hesitate to eat all you want.

There is also a famous saying that goes, 遠慮の固まり。(enryo no katamari)

Katamari refers to a lump or clump of something. You might know that word from the video game Katamari Damacy actually… Anyway…

This, is an enryo no katamari.

As you can see, an enryo no katamari is the last piece of food (or other desired item, but usually food) that no one touches because they don’t want to seem like the greedy person who rudely grabbed the last bite.

Typically in Japan, this last tasty morsel will sit around for a few minutes while people carry on, and then at some opportune time ssomeone will offer it to somebody else in the group. “Hey, eat this Joe!” Joe will refuse, and insist that Sam be the one to eat the last bit.

After some more of this someone will finally eat it and the party will be over.

Or everyone will just hang around and watch more comedy shows on TV.

- Harvey

Mini-skirt Mouse Warmer

Only in Japan.

It’s a mini-skirt mouse warmer.

This is incredibly wrong!

- Harvey

The Onion on an Unfortunate Japanese Exchange Student

Check out this article in The Onion about a host family in Iowa treating a Japanese exchange student to a night out at a Japanese restaurant.

This is funny on so many levels.

And better yet, I’m from Iowa! I could see my parents subjecting a hapless exchange student to this kind of hospitality. I’ve also been taken out for hamburgers a few times in Japan when a host was trying to find something I would probably like, so I know how it feels. Hard RockCafe anyone?

By the way, a few supplementary tidbits related to the article.

While youngest son Derrick, 14, steered clear of “anything raw” at the restaurant, ordering the chicken-teriyaki platter, the other Tuckers were fairly adventurous. In addition to sushi and sashimi, they sampled miso soup, edamame, and seaweed salad.

Miso soup as you all know goes along with rice as a basic side dish in most any full Japanese meal. Edamame are the salted green bean snacks most commonly eaten as a side dish with a nice cold beer, and seaweed salad, well… Anyway, it’s all cheap-o stuff.

Miyazawa was equally patient when Bobbie suggested he call her “youbo.”

“I didn’t understand what she was saying at first,” Miyazawa said. “But after she said it four or five times, I realized she was saying ‘mother’ in Japanese. That was nice.

“youbo” 養母 does mean mother, as in a foster mother, but it’s so uncommonly used that it would likely be super hard for a native Japanese speaker to catch in a flat Iowan accent. And, even a Japanese kid with a foster parent wouldn’t call their mother youbo, they would just say okaasan, the usual word for mother. Poor Miyazawa-san!

Though when/if I finally settle down, I’m going to be a host parent! My host family days in Nagoya were great fun… Love that stuff.

- Harvey

I Hate Spam

Cars in Japan have a sense of humor.

Or maybe they’re not joking at all.

- Harvey

Engrish Tshirt in Umeda

Wow.

Right across from the Kinokuniya bookstore in Umeda. I saw this about a month ago and am finally getting around to posting it.

Hopefully the shirt is still available for those who want to go buy it…

- Harvey

Work Work Watching

Speed post. This is too funny not to share.

Work Work Watching #1

Especially funny is number 5, where the Japanese director teaches the American actor the art of NORI-TSUKKOMI 乗り突っ込み with the help of his useless interpreter.

Work Work Watchign #5 - Nori-tsukkomi 

There is a wikipedia entry on nori-tsukkomi if you are like the American director and not familiar with this traditional form of Japanese Kansai-style comedy.

Basically, nori-tsukkomi is when someone does something unexpected and silly against your expectation. For example, you say “wow it’s raining, go get the umbrella.” and the guy comes back with a toothpick umbrella used to decorate cocktails.

If you immediately bash the guy over the hed and say “hey! What the heck do you take me for! That’s not an umbrella!” That would be a regular tsukkomi.

If instead, you say “wow, nice umbrella. Now I can keep my fingers dry… Small… and easy to carry…. - WHAT the heck! This umbrella is way to small!” and bash them over the head… That is then nori-tsukkomi. You have first skillfully gone along with their silly gag before suddenly pointing out their folly and bashing them over the head.

I love this stuff.

“Listen, nori-tsukkomi you alright?”

- Harvey

Incredibly Lost in Translation

Take a deep breath before you read this link to a funny post on a China blog… Laughing requires air.

It’s the funniest thing I have seen all week.

- Harvey

American Coffee is Weak Coffee

Adding insult to injury.

The translation of アメリカンコーヒー (Japanese for “american coffee”) on this menu has been aptly translated by the cafe staff as “weak coffee”.

Cute.

- Harvey

Kinkan. Just eat the peel.

At the same sushi shop where I acquired the famed wasabi plant, the sushi master also pulled out this interesting fruit known as “kinkan” (金柑). My dictionary says that’s a kumquat.

He told us to eat the peel.

My wife’s mom told me to place them by a box of tabacco that “dad” was smoking for “scale”. Funny how a box of tobacco becomes an item to show scale in Japan. Smoking is everywhere. Maybe that would happen in the States as well…

They’re too sour, almost like a lemon, which is why the sushi master told us to just eat the peel. It tastes nice, is healthy, and is a great way to clean your palate after eating tons of raw fish.

Is this how kumquats are usually eaten? Maybe everyone knows this stuff already except me…

Eat those peels.

- Harvey