Evangelion in Kansai-ben
Posted by harvey in Humor, Language, Media, Movies on 17. Feb, 2010 | 1 Comment
This is quite possibly the coolest Kansai-ben thing ever.
Kansai-ben is an international language. You must learn it.
Near the end it busts into Yappa Sukiyanen by Yashiki Takajin, quite possibly the most famous songs in Kansai-ben ever (except maybe some of Ulfuls tracks).
And… don’t miss part 2!
If you’re curious about Kansai-ben check out our Kansai-ben lessons, [...]
More Mameshiba Advertisements
Posted by harvey in Food, Humor, Language, Media on 25. Jan, 2010 | 3 Comments
These are just too funny. Sure I could have tweeted it… but this deserves more permanent placement.
Be sure you catch the Kansai-ben speaking mameshiba commercial that I posted earlier!
- Harvey
We are Tanaka Hirokazu
Posted by harvey in Humor, Music on 10. Dec, 2009 | 3 Comments
JapanNewbies, I want you to do an exercise with me.
Close your eyes and imagine eleven people all named Hirokazu Tanaka singing a song together about their same-named predicament.
…
Good. Now, open your eyes… And watch this video of eleven people all named Hirokazu Tanaka singing a song together about their same-named predicament.
The track starts off with [...]
Japanese 空耳 “Soramimi” Net-Humor Explained
Posted by harvey in Humor, Language on 26. Nov, 2009 | 15 Comments
Time to explain a bit of crazy Japanese Internet humor…
Go ahead, watch the entire video. I’ll wait.
Done? Okay.
There’s an entire category of Japanese humor that is based on adding Japanese subtitles to videos in foreign languages to show that the foreign language actually sounds like ridiculous Japanese. Hilarity ensues.
The Japanese call this 空耳 (そらみみ/soramimi) and [...]
A little lost in translation – i-Fukkin for iPhone
Posted by harvey in Gadgets, Humor, Language on 29. Sep, 2009 | 4 Comments
Here is a great Japanese iPhone app that encourages you to do sit-ups. i-Fukkin!
i-Fukkin
They should have done some research before settling on their application name though.
FUKKIN is 腹筋 (ふっきん) in Japanese, which means “abdominal muscles,” and isn’t funny at all. You can use 腹筋 as a verb too and say, 「腹筋をする」to mean “to do sit-ups.”
The [...]
Big Man Japan – Dainihonjin
Posted by harvey in Humor, Media, Movies on 25. Sep, 2009 | 4 Comments
I watched Big Man Japan tonight. The Japanese title is 大日本人 (dainihonjin or dainipponjin).
Unfortunately, this trailer really doesn’t capture the essence of the film. These fight scenes are almost short interludes to the main part of the movie. Most of the movie depicts a faceless and nameless reporter following the Big Man around interviewing him [...]
Jero speaks Kansai-ben
Posted by harvey in Humor, Language, Media on 13. Sep, 2009 | 2 Comments
Here is a clip of Jero’s Kansai-ben being “outed” on TV.
They catch Jero speaking Kansai-ben when he says:
…あまりおばあちゃんとおかあちゃんが日本語しゃべってくれへんかったんです。。
… amari obaachan to okaachan ga nihongo shabette kurehen kattann desu.
The “Kansai-ben” dialect part of this grammar is the へん in しゃべってくれへんかった。
As you may know from my other Kansai-ben lessons, in Kansai-ben the negative form of verbs, ない [...]
You know you’ve been in Japan too long when… From a Western Perspective
Posted by harvey in Books, Culture, Humor, Society on 31. Mar, 2009 | 4 Comments
Those who enjoyed the previous post will likely enjoy this as well. You Know You’ve Been in Japan too Long… by Bill Mutranowski.
You Know You’ve Been in Japan too Long…
And here is another unpublished list of “You know you’ve been in Japan Too Long When…” jokes from a Western perspective.
A few gems…
- you no longer [...]
