Here's a bit of goofiness unearthed in the old scrap clippings pile. It's such a minor thing that I hesitate to apply my frequent "A dose of dumb:" preface to the title. Anyway:

The October 2003 issue of JETRO's Focus Japan magazine reported that the French animated film Kirokou et la sorciére (Kirikou and the Sorceress) proved popular in Japan. The tidbit of commentary notes: Read more

Back in 2005, Japan Times science writer Rowan Hooper noted US-based medical studies which, although inconclusive, suggested that aging-related conditions could be ameliorated through transcendental meditation (TM) techniques such as mindfulness and progressive muscle relaxation. Hooper went on to suggest that Japanese lifespans may be long due to similar effects brought about by two factors: Buddhism and "shikata ga nai mentality".  Read more

Meet Poppy the Pig. From her online introduction of a few months back (the website text is different now): 

She goes to the flower market and likes gardening and doing household work. She is very sociable and she is kind to her friends and to her niece Grunty. The reason she has such Dutch characteristics is because Bruna created her modeling after his children's grade school teacher. 

Hm? What are these "Dutch characteristics"? Enjoying gardening and household work? Being sociable and kind? Having a niece named Grunty? All of those?

Do you have "Dutch characteristics"? I'll bet you do, and don't even know it!

All right, the above text is clearly as harmless as a bit of writing can get, but I'll say it once more anyway: I'll never understand made-up culturology, and am sure glad that I don't partake in it.  

But moving on: In case you're unfamiliar with Poppy, she's a friend of Miffy, star of over 100 children's books by Dick Bruna. While I don't think Miffy's caught on big in the US, she's a popular character in Europe and here in Japan as well.

A glance at Miffy should remind you a lot of another cartoon character, [Hello] Kitty. They're almost twins, though the vacant-eyed pair are separated not only by species but by age as well: Miffy was born in 1955, while Kitty didn't appear until 1974.

 vs

Actually, according to this interview, the similarity seems to have the pioneering Bruna a bit... er, miffed: 

'That,' he says darkly, 'is a copy [of Miffy], I think. I don't like that at all. I always think, "No, don't do that. Try to make something that you think of yourself" '

Wow; for a guy as nice as Dick Bruna, that's almost a jump from "Hello" to "Screw You, Kitty". The characters' resemblance is indeed suspicious, though in Sanrio's defense, we could note that the simplicity of Miffy doesn't leave much room for a similarly-sparse design to differ. (I was about to joke that maybe Sanrio should have given Kitty facial hair – when I recalled that they did.) 

Well, there's really no need for the two to compete; the affection of children is a thing to be shared, not divided. (Awww.) Though on the other hand, a Miffy vs Kitty no-quarter cage match does have its appeal. Who do you think would win? (Why, we the viewing audience, of course.) 

A very short message to all translation agencies, "anime fans", and self-described Japanese learners out there:

Stop saying "Romanji".

The Japanese word for the Latin alphabet – the character set used in English and many other languages – is romaji (or Romaji if you like). From roma (Rome) and ji (letters/characters). Romaji. Never "Romanji". So stop it already.

(And if you're communicating in English, isn't "the Latin alphabet", or just "the alphabet", the phrase you want anyway?)

We cool?

Those who insist that food in Japan is all about dainty, lightweight portions must not know the Mega Mac, a four-patty Big Mac introduced by McDonald's to Japan as a short-lived gimmick, then given a permanent home in the menu when hungry gourmets demanded more. Well, Burger King Japan has outdone the Mega Mac: for a few days, it's offering a seven-patty Whopper.  Read more

Remember one of the key rules of culturology: "Cultural differences" aren't something you sensibly take note of when and if they pop up. Rather, you simply know that they lurk everywhere unless shown otherwise (and, of course, you don't ever attempt to demonstrate that "otherwise" part). 

There's a new Astro Boy movie coming out, and the director is making the normal interview rounds. Here's the opening question from an interview on the AMC web site:  Read more

A single word for "death from overwork" – imagine that! You've probably seen the astonishment over that fact in contexts like this WIRED article: "And in a nation that actually has a word for 'death from overwork,'...", the gist of which is that the existence of a single word for the concept reveals its unusual severity or significance in Japan. 

In fact, there is a single word for "death from overwork" in Japanese: karoushi (過労死); there's no argument about that (well, except maybe from those claiming that Japanese has no words). The word exists.

What I'm debunking here is the overworked meme that the phenomenon's single-word status has any significance whatsoever. It doesn't. Read more

Ah, April in the Northern Hemisphere! If you're in a location with sakura cherry trees – whether Washington D.C., Seattle, Seoul, or any number of locales – you're in for a treat as entire trees erupt in fluffy pink blossoms.

In Japan, the blooming of the cherry blossoms is eagerly awaited every year. It's a time for relaxation and fun: walking under pink canopies along the river, taking photos in the park, and – best of all – enjoying all-day (or all-night!) hanami picnics under the blossoms with friends, food, and drink.

Unless you're Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, that is, in which case sakura season adds an extra activity to your calendar: a spring-fresh burst of the racist blathering for which you're infamous. Read more

Should I ever need to hire a translation firm, I know one I won't be considering. A strange pang of kindness holds me back from giving out the befuddled firm's name here, but the FAQ page of these "Japanese translators of the highest quality" contains this goofiness:

[T]here are no such things as words in Japanese. Read more

One of the most beloved Japanology memes overseas involves the word kaizen (or Kaizen to some). Here's the definition from the New Oxford American Dictionary:

kaizen |ˈkaɪzən|
noun: a Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement of working practices, personal efficiency, etc.

That sometimes gets further embellished by eager writers who extend kaizen to carry continuous improvement out of the business realm, and "throughout all aspects of life", per one definition I've seen. Whatever the specifics, what you'll find in common across all definitions is that kaizen is a Japanese word for "a Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement".

Unfortunately, that's wrong. Read more