Hungry for Words: Mostly Japanese

The Tale of the Split-Mouth Woman and more

The words I've covered on Twitter for the past 2 days are:

お化け　おばけ　obake - Ghost (informal, less serious term)

幽霊　ゆうれい　yuurei - Ghost (more formal term)

呪う　のろう　norou - to haunt; 呪われる　のろわれる　norowareru - to be haunted

Two famous anime ghosts: おばけのQ太郎　おばけのQたろう　Obake no Q-taro and ゲゲゲの鬼太郎　げげげのきたろう　Gegege no Kitaro

The Tale of the Split Mouth Woman　(口裂け女　くちさけおんな　Kuchisake Onna)

In Japan, when people have colds they often wear a mask made of cotton gauze, so that their coughing doesn't spread germs around. (I remember that my mother wouldn't let me wear a mask when I had a cold, since she didn't believe they stopped the spread of germs at all and just turned nasty and moist on our faces. So of course, I was envious of my classmates who came to school wearing masks.)

In the 1970s, when I was in elementary school, a rumor spread throughout Japan of a beautiful woman, who was wearing a mask on her face. She would approach small children like me, and ask, "Am I beautiful?" The child would answer yes. She would then take off her mask, revealing a mouth that was horribly split from ear to ear, and ask again, "Am I still beautiful?" If you answered no, she would take out a sharp blade (either a kitchen knife or a surgical knife) and either slash you to death, or split your mouth so that it looked like hers...

This was really a variation of a bogeyman story, but it really spread like wildfire all around the country. There were various reports on the news with 'real' sightings. I lived in a suburb of Tokyo called Hachioji, and our school was about a 30 minute walk away. In the morning all the neighborhood kids would walk together to school in small, organized groups, but we all walked back home alone or in twos and threes. There was a long stretch of road that had no houses, just empty fields filled with tall ススキ　susuki, a type of native grass plant with broomlike heads. My friends and I used to scare each other silly by coming up with more and more exaggerated tales of 口裂け女 sightings.

According to the Japan Wikipedia page about 口裂け女, this urban legend may have had its origins in the 18th century, and it had a revival of sorts in the 1990. It even spread to South Korea in 2004, and inspired a movie more than once. I do know that a whole generation of Japanese kids in the '70s and '80s, incuding me, were scared silly of the 口裂け女, for at least a brief period in their lives.

怖い！　こわい！　kowai! (scary / scared!)

The ghost season in Japan

Halloween is not really celebrated in Japan, since the holiday is really a Christian one with European pagan roots. The high season for ghosts in Japan is the summer. One reason is because of お盆　おぼん　obon, a period in early August when people traditionally went back to their home towns to pray for the spirits of their ancestors. (Nowadays a lot of people just take the opportunity to go on a short vacation.)

There's a more practical reason for telling scary ghost stories in the summer though: when you're frightened, you can break out into a cold sweat (冷や汗　ひやあせ）, which can cool you down!

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Aseri: Sweaty anxiety

Today's word is 焦り　あせり　aseri - anxiety.

The verb form (to be anxious, nervous, to mildly panic) is 焦る あせる　aseru.

You might also use it with 感じる　かんじる　kanjiru - to feel (verb) - 焦りを感じる　あせり　を　かんじる　aseri o kanjiru to mean 'to feel anxiety'.

The ase part of 焦り　or 焦る　sounds the same as 汗　あせ , which means sweat. In Japanese, words with different kanji and meanings that sound the same are often connected (which is why the number 4 (四）, which can be read shi, the same as 死　- death, is considered unlucky). So I don't think it's a coincidence that anxiety, which can make you sweat, sounds the same as the word for sweat.

If you know someone with a tendency to　be anxious and worry, you could give them a T-shirt printed with:

焦らないでマイペースでいこう！ あせらないでまいぺーすでいこう！　aseranaide maipe-su de ikou!

(Don't be anxious (don't sweat), go at your own pace! (マイペース　maipe-su is 'my pace' meaning 'your own pace').

(Incidentally, the word for a big, all-out panic is パニック　panikku - yep, another imported word.)

Hospital visit, or arranged meeting?

The news that Senator Barack Obama will be visiting his ailing grandmother in Hawaii gave me the idea to talk a bit about お見舞い　（おみまい　omimai）　vs. お見合い　（おみあい　omiai), two very similar sounding words with very different meanings, both of which give some insight into Japansese society.

Visiting someone who's ill

お見舞い　（おみまい　omimai）means to visit someone who is not well, most often someone who is hospitalized (入院　にゅういん　nyuuin, to be hospitalized) in a 病院 (びょういん　byouin , hospital), though you can お見舞い　someone who is sick at home or in a rest home too. (お見舞い　is the honorific version of 見舞い, but お見舞い　is almost always used. It's a noun, and to turn it into a verb you use お見舞いする　omimai suru, to do omimai).

When you お見舞い　someone in hospital, you usually bring them flowers or fruits and so on just like in the west. It is rather bad form to go visit someone in hospital empty-handed, when it's the first time you are going there. You shouldn't bring a potted plant, since that implies the hospital stay might take root (根付く　ねづく　nezuku - to take root, sounds the same as 寝づく　- stay bed-bound) and be prolonged. Cut flowers are ok.

The arranged first date

On the other hand, お見合い　（おみあい　omiai) is an arranged meeting with a prospective marriage mate. Even in 2008, many people still do お見合い to meet their future mate. You first get a photo and a sort of life-resume of the potential お見合い　candidate, and decide whether you want to meet them. The お見合い　itself is usually held at an expensive restaurant, Western or traditional Japanese style, with each party bringing along a chaperone. The first part of the meeting is with all four people, then later the young couple are let alone for a bit. After the お見合い、if both sides decide they want to pursue the relationship they do.

I've never done an お見合い　myself since I've lived most of my adult life outside Japan. (お見合い　do occur between Japanese people living abroad, but very rarely.) I've heard some funny or horror stories of お見合い　from other people though, such as a girl who had an お見合い　with a guy with all the 'right' credentials - Tokyo University graduate (the ultimate in prestigious degrees, which is very important in Japan), in a top rated big corporation, even not bad looking. His chaperone was his mother, which is not that unusual, but during dinner he called his mother "Mama", while she in turn called him (his name)-chan (a diminutive term of endearment usually used for little children). "Mama" chose his menu and at one point even wiped his mouth for him! My friend didn't pursue the relationship, needless to say.

While you can have some nightmare お見合い、I don't think it's such a bad or outdated idea - it's just a formal kind of blind date. But it is going out of favor amongst younger Japanese people, who prefer the Western romantic ideals of chance encounters.

If you're happy and you know it clap your hands

I think I have been a bit negative lately, so here is something positive. You probably know the song that goes "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands". There's a Japanese version of that song, and it goes like this:

幸せなら 手を叩こう (しあわせなら　てをたたこう　　shiawase nara te o tatakou)

幸せなら 手を叩こう (しあわせなら　てをたたこう　　shiawase nara te o tatakou)

幸せなら　態度で　示そうよ (しあわせなら　たいどで　しめそうよ　　　shiawase nara taido de shimesouyo)

さあ　みんなで　手を叩こう (さあ　みんなで　てをたたこう　　　saa minnade te o tatakou)

Translation:

If we're happy let's clap our hands
If we're happy let's clap our hands
If we're happy let's show it with our attitude
So let's all cap our hands

(Actually, as in many Japanese sentences there is no subject so it could be 'we're happy' or 'you're happy'.)

In the song you can see how a verb is changed to suggest it be done, i.e. 叩こう　tatakou - let's clap (literally let's hit our hands together). The base verb is 叩く　たたく, and to make it a suggestion it becomes 叩こう。Similarly:

示す　shimesu - to show or indicate becomes 示そう　shimesou - let's show

Another thing to pick up from the song is using なら　nara to mean If...:

幸せなら　shiawase nara -　If (you're) happy

And the main word today is...

幸せ　しあわせ　shiawase - happy.

Another word for happy is 幸福　こうふく　koufuku; you'll notice that the first kanji of that is the one used in　幸せ.)

Now here is a little quiz. Here are some kids singing the song:

But instead of clapping their hands, they're hitting (叩く）something else at the beginning of the song. What are they doing?

不 - the negating prefix

On today's Twitter lesson, the word was 不満　ふまん　fuman (dissatisfied) - the opposite of 満足　まんぞく　manzoku (satisfied), yesterday's word.

The prefix 不　connotates a negative meaning. Some more examples:

不足　ふそく　fusoku - lacking

不利　ふり　furi - at a disadvantage, bad odds

不規則　ふきそく　fukisoku - irregular

不幸　ふこう　fukou - unhappy (happy is 幸福　こうふく　koufuku)

不機嫌　ふきげん　fukigen - in a bad mood

Religion in Japan

A small roadside Ojizousama. Photo by Bonguri.

One thing that strikes me every time there is a major election in the United States is how much importance is placed on religion (宗教　しゅうきょう　shuukyou). This never happens in Japanese elections (and rarely in elections in the European countries I've lived in for that matter).

Most people in Japan would probably identify themselves as 無宗教　むしゅうきょう　mushuukyou - non-religious. Most people practice various rituals that are from 神道　しんとう　shintou - Shinto, but because they are so ingrained in Japanese culture they are barely thought of as being religious in nature. Rituals and practices from 仏教　ぶっきょう　bukkyou - Buddhism are also ingrained in peoples' lives.

Although the percentage of Japanese people who identify themselves as クリスチャン　kurisuchan - Christian - is quite small, some キリスト教　きりすときょう　kirisutokyou - Christian (Christianity) practices have been incorporated quite casually. Here's how an ordinary person might encounter religious practices in their lives.

Here's how a typical year might go for a Japanese person, with various rituals that are barely thought of as being that religious.

• They celebrate New Year's in a Shinto fashion, going to a 神社　じんじゃ　- Shinto shrine to pray for good luck in the upcoming year (this first visit of the year to the shrine is called 初詣　はつもうで　hatsumoude). There's even an online 神社.
• A big ceremony for people who reach 20, is 成人の日　せいじんのひ　seijin no hi - Coming of Age Day on January 15th, when they get dressed up in traditional kimonos (especially girls) and go to the 神社　again.
• 節分の日　せつぶんのひ　setsubun no hi in February is a sort of mixed Shinto-Buddhist day, when bad spirits are driven out by throwing beans while chanting 鬼は外！　おにはそと！ oni wa soto! - Out with the devils!
• Girl's Day, or 桃の節句　もものせっく　momo no sekku　in March is a Shinto festival of sorts.
• as is Children's Day or 子供の日　こどものひ　kodomo no hi in May
• 七夕　たなばた　tanabata in July (though some places still celebrate it in August, following the old calendar) is another Shinto day, where people write wishes down on slips of paper (短冊　たんざく　tanzaku) and hang them from bamboo branches.
• In August, お盆　おぼん　obon is celebrated, when people pay homage to the memories of their ancestors (the most common way is to go back to their home towns and visit the graves of their deceased loved ones). Obon is largely Shintoist, but most people are buried with Buddhist rituals.
• Hallowe'en (ハロウィーン）has become a more popular thing to do in October, and around Christmas （クリスマス）time the stores explode with Christmas decorations. And many people get married in Christian churches. But Christian rituals seem to be mainly used for their decorative and 'romantic' aspects, rather than anything spiritual.
• Many homes have a small Shinto shrine (神棚　かみだな　kamidana, which literally means 'God's shrine'), if a close relative died there there may have a 仏壇　ぶつだん　butsudan - Buddha's shrine (Buddha as well as the deceased person being honored are called 仏様　ほとけさま　hotokesama) to honor their memory.
• Many Japanese streets, in the towns or the countryside, have little stone statues called お地蔵様　おじぞうさま　ojizousama, a Buddhist 菩薩　ぼさつ　bosatsu or sort of saint who protects travelers and others.
• When children wish for good weather the next day, they might hang up a てるてる坊主　てるてるぼうず　teruterubouzu - the figure of a little bald Buddhist priest made out of paper.

Throughout various periods in Japanese history, Christianity has been actively discouraged, banned or persecuted, and other religions have had little or no influence. Nowadays people are free to practice any religion they want, but the percentage of people who identify themselves as being of a particular religion is quite small. (The Japanese government doesn't ask people what religion they are formally so exact numbers are hard to come by.) Generally speaking, there is a feeling of slight suspicion towards anyone who is overly religious. For instance, there was a family in our old neighborhood in the suburbs of Tokyo who were active in 創価学会　そうかがっかい　Soka Gakkai, a relatively new Buddhist sect. The mothers in our neighborhood would warn the kids not to associate with them too much. I never understood why exactly, but I guess it comes from a general distrust of anyone who is too different from the norm.

Stuck in man-neri

Periodically I like to talk about imported words, or 外来語　がいらいご　gairaigo, that have entered everyday Japanese and have a very different meaning from the original word. This is one of them.

マンネリ　man-neri originally comes from the English word mannerism. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionery, mannerism means "exaggerated or affected adherence to a particular style or manner". For instance if someone has a habit of always stroking his goatee, that's a mannerism.

マンネリ　means something very different though. If you feel you are in マンネリ, it means you feel as though you are repeating yourself, or stuck in a rut. Example: 毎日がマンネリで、退屈している。Everyday is man-neri, and I'm bored.

You can sort of see how the word for repetitive habits get somehow warped into a word meaning stuck in a rut, but it's still rather random and very confusing! Another reason why you can never assume that an imported word means what it does in the original language.

(マンネリ　is related to another imported-and-confusing word: ワンパターン　wan pataan, which comes from the English "one pattern" and also means repetitve or stuck in a rut.)

Running hot and cold part 2: Hot and warm

Continuing on the hot and cold theme from yesterday -

"Hot" also has different words in Japanese:

• Weather hot: 暑い　あつい　atsui E.g.: Summers in Tokyo are 暑い！
• Hot to the touch hot: 熱い　あつい　atsui E.g.: This tea is 熱い！

Yes, they are pronounced the same, and so are the same when written out in kana, but have different kanji characters. To confuse things even further, there's another atsui - 厚い, meaning 'thick' (e.g. The Oxford English Dictionary is very 厚い, unless it was burning, in which case it would also be 熱い.

In the middle of summer, people send each other a 暑中お見舞い (しょちゅうおみまい shochuu omimai) postcard (sometimes a gift too), a sort of commisseration greeting in the middle of the steaming hot season (暑中）. 　Notice that the しょ　暑　kanji is the one for weather- 暑い。

Thankfully there's only one word for warm: 暖かい　あたたかい　atatakai. This is sometimes said as あったかい attakai　(you might see this in anime/manga).

この毛布は暖かい　- this blanket is warm あなたは暖かい人だ　- you are a warm person

Running hot and cold part 1: Cold

It's cold season. But is it though? The English word cold can mean different things, but in Japanese there are separate words for each kind of cold.

• Ambient temperature cold: 寒い　さむい　samui. E.g. "The air conditioning is on full blast! I am so 寒い".
• Cold to the touch cold: 冷たい　つめたい　tsumetai E.g. "Nothing's as good as a 冷たい　beer on a summer evening". 冷たい　is also used to describe emotions or people, e.g. She is such a 冷たい　person.
• The cold malady: 風邪　かぜ　kaze. E.g. "My throat hurts and I have a fever...I have a 風邪". (The term for 'get a cold' is 風邪をひく　かぜをひく　kaze o hiku.

Tomorrow: hot and warm.

More about money: In Japan, the wife is the family CFO

Japan is a very patriarchal society. It's still very hard for a woman to reach the higher ranks of a company, and most women become stay-at-home mothers after giving birth. However, one critical aspect of life where women are overwhelmingly in charge is 家計　かけい　kakei - household finances.

The wife is typically in total charge of the household budget; while the husband will have a say in big-ticket purchases, his main role is to be the family earner. (The typical scenario: the husband hands over his entire pay packet to the wife, who promptly deposits in the bank or puts it in a safe place. The husband is given some pocket money for his personal expenses. Nowadays of course most people get their salaries by direct bank deposit, but the principle is the same.) One of the basic skills a young woman is supposed to have is how to keep a household account book, called 家計簿　かけいぼ　kakeibo. I'm not sure if they still teach 家計簿　keeping skills, but in our home economics classes in junior high we had a couple of sessions on the subject, along with cooking and sewing. A 家計簿 is considered to such a necessity that the major 'housewife' magazines include a free one every year as a supplement in their December issues. You can also buy them at any bookstore, and of course these days a lot of people keep their 家計簿　on a PC, using spreadsheets or dedicated software. Here's the Amazon Japan search results page for 家計簿.

Keeping a 家計簿　is for 家計管理　かけいかんり　kakeikanri - household budget management: It helps with 節約　せつやく　setsuyaku - saving money, 予算立て　よさんだて　yosandate - making budgets (budget (noun) is 予算　よさん　yosan) as well as make 計画　けいかく　keikaku - plans. One critical part of a household budget is the 食費　しょくひ　shokuhi, food expenses.