You Should Lose your Ability to Reason
Posted by harvey in Humor, Language, Travel on 09. Apr, 2010 | 1 Comment
Can you spot the bad Japanese? Don't add this Japanese to your SRS deck Found this sign in Lijiang China while I was there on vacation a few weeks ago. 「外遊は文明を忘れない、買い物をするのは理性を失うはずです」 There is a LOT wrong with the Japanese here, but I want to point out one especially fatal mistake. 「理性を失うはずです。」 First we must learn [...]
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 [...]
More Mameshiba Advertisements
Posted by harvey in Food, Humor, Language, Media on 25. Jan, 2010 | 3 Comments
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpRBkhipQOs 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 [...]
Japanese 空耳 “Soramimi” Net-Humor Explained
Posted by harvey in Humor, Language on 26. Nov, 2009 | 16 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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
