Word Play

~One of my favorite parts of the Japanese language is that it is rich in onomatopoeia. As you surely remember from middle school English class, onomatopoeia is the use of a word that imitates a sound, such as "boom" or "fizzle" for something exploding or bubbling.

I've always been fond of onomatopoeia, which perhaps explains why I like the old 1966 Batman TV series starring Adam West--you know, the one that flashed words like "BAM!" and "POW!" on the screen whenever people got punched:

^It may not be high art, but who cares--it's fun!

Anyway, there are many more examples of onomatopoeia in Japanese than there are in English, but there's more to it than that. What's different is that they're used far, far more frequently, and by people of all ages. Most of them are double words, where the onomatopoeia is repeated for effect. For example, "doki doki" is the sound of a heart beating fast, and is therefore synonymous with nervousness.

A typical Japanese conversation is laced with these kind of words. I "collect" them, and whenever I hear one of my Japanese friends or coworkers using one, I always ask what it means. In addition, I read the weekly Japanese-learning section of The Japan Times, an English-language newspaper (by the way, "shinbun" is Japanese for newspaper).

Every Tuesday, the newspaper publishes a comic called "Word Play" which humorously illustrates two similar examples of onomatopoeia. This has been running for a long time and has proved so popular that it's actually been made into a stage play. Here are some recent examples:

^ pata pata: Thinking he was going to go out and play, Pochi was happily wagging his tail.

Therefore, "pata pata" is the sound of an animal wagging its tail. This can be used for any animal with a tail, including fish and dolphins.

^ bata bata: Flapping its wings, the crane flew upward.

Note the similarity of "bata bata" to "pata pata". The former is the sound of a wagging tail, while the latter is the sound of flapping wings.

Actually, I've heard "pata pata" used in other situations. One of my students, a grade-school girl who's been going to my school for most of her life, described to me a fishing trip she went on with her family. She apparently had a very good time, and enthusiastically told me how when she caught a fish and pulled it out of the water, it flopped around on land. She actually rolled around on the floor imitating the fish and saying "bata bata bata!". It was too cute to stop, even though I'm supposed to discourage use of Japanese in class.

^ gachin gachin: By breaking the thick, frozen solid ice, he made a hole and dropped his line into the water.

When I first arrived in Japan, I heard "gachin gachin" all the time, because it was still winter. There was still quite a bit of snow and "gachin gachin" ice in Nagaoka. With the freakishly warm weather of late that's already cut winter in half, I haven't heard much of this.

I did, however, hear it on the TV news yesterday, where the meteorologist was saying something about sub-zero temperatures in Hokkaido and that drivers should be aware of icy roads. He said "gachin gachin" while talking, and I knew what it meant! How gratifying.

^ kachin kachin: Even after the new year, mochi (rice cakes) as hard as nails were kept on display.

I head "kachin kachin" all the time; for example, one of my students came to class with a hard candy (think Jolly Rancher). I told him to either eat it fast or get rid of it, and he commented that it was "kachin kachin"--it was too hard to break up and eat, so he had to spit it into the trash.

Note that the difference between "gachin gachin" and "kachin kachin" is that the former applies only to frozen liquids.

~Below is a short list of some of my favorite Japanese onomatopoeia. By the way, for you fellow English Majors out there, the word for the words formed by use of onomatopoeia is "onomatope". Hence, the words below are onomatopes, which are examples of onomatopoeia (which is a literary device). Please, stop me now.

• peko peko: the sound of a hungry stomach rumbling. This one is easy to remember, because it reminds me of the word "peckish". It's interesting how completely different languages can sometimes sound so alike. "Peko peko" is frequently used by Japanese people to express that they're hungry.

• betsu betsu: the sound of something being separated. This is mostly used at a restaurant when asking for separate checks; just say "Betsu betsu, kudasi" (separate, please). It's also part of the word tokubetsu, which means "special".
  

• boro boro: junk. If something is "boro boro", it's beat-up, old, and worthless. I learned this from two of my students, who drew of the board a patched, frayed, shirt that was falling apart to illustrate "boro boro". I told them they should sent their drawing to The Japan Times.
  

• zen zen: completely not. For example, if you had a horrible vacation and someone asks you if you enjoyed it, you could reply with "zen zen!". Actually, "zen zen" literally means "completely", the aspect of it being completely negative is simply the most common usage. Some younger people in Japan apparently use "zen zen" in the sense of completely positive, mostly to confuse older people.
  

• bari bari: literally, this is the sound of paper that is tearing apart. In practice, it's used to represent being very busy. "Moto bari bari," roughly means "There's a lot to do".
  

• giri giri: barely; something you almost missed. If you hop on the train just before it leaves, it's "giri giri".
  

• tama tama: by chance; unexpectedly. If you run into an old friend purely by accident, it's "tama tama". I'm not sure what sound this is supposed to represent, but I like it anyway.
  

• bero bero: the sound of a drunk person. If a person is described as "bero bero", it means they're drunk. I guess it's supposed to represent the sound of someone stumbling around in an alcoholic haze.

Words like these are used all the time by people of all ages. Although many of them are considered "cute", they're not considered to be childish; news reporters and politicians make frequent use of onomatopoeia. I think the recent State of the Union address by our Great and Powerful Leader would have been much more fun to watch if he'd used a few of these. He could have described the current situation in Iraq as "mera mera" or "gucha gucha" and his new Iraq strategy as "mecha mecha" (which, unfortunately, has nothing to do with giant robots).

There are many, many other examples of onomatopoeia in Japanese (click here for some examples, including the ones I just used). I have some more of the "Word Play" cartoons which I might post later, but for now, here's something to challenge you: an easy online quiz (in English) of Japanese onomatopoeia! You don't need to know any Japanese to complete it. Try it and let me know what your score is. ~Oyasumi!

Happy Birthday to SHE

~I'd like to take this opportunity to wish my mother a wonderful birthday today.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

She's truly the best mother a guy could hope for. I hope her (ahem) 36th birthday is fantastically relaxing. If you're a friend or neighbor, please do give her a call. She also likes chocolate. ~Oyasumi!

Heat Wave

~Coming to a riot near you: the U.S. military and Raytheon, the world's largest producer of missiles, have developed a heat-ray weapon as a nonlethal way of incapacitating humans. Its rather colorful official name is the "Active Denial System", which would be a good name for a rock band, and it is fired from a large dish mounted on the back of a Humvee or truck.

The system has been plagued with problems and delays, but has finally been perfected. It works by firing an invisible, high-energy beam that produces a feeling of intense burning on the skin of those unlucky enough to be in its path, much like a blast of the extremely hot air that hits you when you open an oven door. The beam can go through clothes but cannot penetrate walls, and has a range of about 500 yards.


Supposedly, the beam only affects the first 0.4 mm of skin, where your nerve endings are located, but it can't actually kill you. Still, I have to wonder what would happen if you were caught in it for a sustained amount of time.

What strikes me about this (if you'll pardon the pun) is a single, briefly-mentioned factoid about this new weapon: the long-term effects of being hit by the beam remain unknown. Seriously, this is like being cooked in a microwave, or sitting in a tanning booth for hours. That can't be good. On the other hand, I'm sure it will be great for interrogations on suspected terrorists.

As "cool" as a ray-gun might sound, I doubt that it will be very useful in Iraq or Afghanistan. Frankly, the weather in Baghdad is already like an oven most of the time, so I don't see how being hit by this will feel any different. Additionally, the microwave dish is very large and, while bullet-resistant, presents a tempting target to some jerk armed with an RPG.

Once it's been hit, there goes what's undoubtedly a multi-million dollar piece of equipment. The troops using it probably don't even have adequate body armor. Well, I guess "you go to war with the army you have, not the one you might want or wish to have at a later time".

Speaking of "a later time", the Active Denial System isn't expected to go into production until 2010 at the earliest. I certainly hope the big Mess O'Potamia has been cleaned up by then. Of course, I'm sure our overlords will find new and exciting wars to sucker our country into, thus necessitating outlandishly futuristic and unfathomably expensive weapons to better obliterate brown people around the world.

Is it just me, or did it just get hot in here? ~Oyasumi...

Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager

~You've all heard of the evil Darth Vader, primary villain/anti-hero of the Star Wars film franchise. But you may not have heard of Chad, his less-famous younger brother. Here, I bring you Episode 1 of Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager:


^ I'm amazed at how accurately the actor for Chad was able to capture the voice of James Earl Jones. My favorite line is "Continue stocking!". More Chad Vader episodes are available here, if you're that bored. ~Oyasumi!

Walk Like A Niigatan

~Today I once again made the journey to Niigata by bullet train. This time, it was to sort out an immigration issue; apparently, there's a one-week gap between the time my visa expires and the time I'll be in Japan. The solution was to visit the immigration office at Niigata International Airport and get an extension. I should note that this was not an isolated case; every single foreign teacher at my company has to go through this.

The silver lining was company-paid transportation by bullet train, so I made the most of it. Before taking the train back, I wandered around the city and came across some interesting sights:

^ I certainly didn't expect to find an Egyptian frieze. Nevertheless, I spotted this unusual wall art just outside of Niigata Station. I thought it might be a sign for an Egyptian-themed restaurant or shop, but the building it was attached to contained only offices and a mundane-looking hotel. It's a mystery, but perhaps one that can be deciphered. Or perhaps not:

^ My ancient Egyptian is a bit rusty, but with some help from omniglot I was able to create a rudimentary phonetic translation. Because the human characters are facing left, the script is read left-to-right and top-to-bottom when applicable. Click on the picture for a larger view.

Beyond the sounds, I can't make heads or tails of the writing. I don't know if the hieroglyph combinations have any actual meaning, be it Egyptian, English, Japanese, or something else. Is it supposed to be a reproduction of an actual Ancient Egyptian carving? Perhaps it's just a collection of meaningless symbols that look cool (Japgyptian?). Does anyone care to speculate on the meaning of the hieroglyphs?

^ After examining the Egyptian writing, I found a small, empty park. The pool was closed for the winter, and a recent rain had left the sandy ground full of puddles. The park was devoid of people...but this frog guardian doesn't care, and is always smiling. He reminds of of a Fishkill Frog.

^ Inside the park was this gazebo-like tower. I had to tread lightly when I went to the top. After all, gazebos can be dangerous, and I didn't want this one to wake up and attack me.

^ In the back of the park was this beautiful flower. The El Niño phenomenon has created an abnormally warm and snow-less winter across most of Japan, which is having some unusual ecological effects. For example, there have been numerous reports of bears that are confused about when to hibernate, which causes them to wander into human-inhabited areas in search of food (with predictably disastrous effects). Plants such as the above flower have decided that it's spring already and have begun to grow and bloom.

On the economic side, ski resorts have been doing very poorly, but golf courses are raking in cash. I've read about the huge ice storms in the central U.S. that have killed off much of the citrus fruit crop. Fortunately, the rest of the country is much warmer than usual, which is driving down the price of oil. Take that, OPEC!

^ I found this brand logo on one of those metal ramps that are placed against a street curb so cars can drive up. I wonder if the car feels joy at having breached the confinement of the road. How uplifting it must feel to break free of the road of fate, and create your own destiny off-road! OK, I'll stop now.

Near the park, I saw a large number of cars and vans parked by the side of the road. Most of them had people inside, all of whom were napping. I see that a lot in Japan; I think it has something to do with construction companies being subsidized to hire unemployed workers, who then don't have much to do. On the other hand, maybe they were all just pretending to be asleep, and were tracking my every move...

^ Yes, that's a boat, on top of a building. It's not a flat sign, but a three-dimensional boat, or at least a model of one. The writing below it, both English and katakana, reads either "Fashion Musuwa Hotel" or "Fashion Musuku Hotel". I can't tell if the last of the three symbols is a WA ( ワ ) or a stylized KU ( ク ).

^ These beautiful bird-signs are located at the main Niigata post office. More specifically, they're above the entrance to the garage that houses the mail cars and underground parking. Again, I'm not sure what they're supposed to represent. Perhaps the birds are designed to look like Japanese writing, or perhaps they're just there to look interesting.

Finally, I conclude with some quasi-Japanglish, found outside of a restaurant:

^ "A Concept is Rice". Indeed!!! I can imagine a Zen master who meditates in silence for decades, searching the innermost recesses of his mind for the great truths of existence, and then one day he speaks, for the first time in years, announcing his new concept. The students are awed by this revelation and quickly spread the concept of rice all over Japan, or at least the Western half of the nation. Hence, everyone here now eats rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. ~Oyasumi!