Japanese Onomatopoeia: What Did You Say?

One of the more baffling aspects of the Japanese language, at least to foreigners, is the unusually long list of "onomatopoeia" used to describe a variety of sounds in everyday life.

In English, we have a few words to describe sounds, mostly animal noises (such as a dog saying "woof") or a mechanical sound like an alarm clock "beep"-ing. Japan's list goes much, MUCH further, to describe everything from animals to emotions. Some words even have more than one meaning to cover different situations.

Westerners have been exposed to this list mostly through manga, as various sounds and facial expressions are elaborated on using onomatopoeia. JapanSugoi has compiled a list that shows the more common words found in Japanese, particularly manga.

JapanesePod101 is also currently airing a series on YouTube that explains a few phrases, such as this one.

Giving Thanks in Japan

On November 25, 2011, Americans will gather with their families to celebrate Thanksgiving--whether they want to or not. Turkey will usually be served, except for those adventurous enough to try cooking the intimidating and frustrating Turducken. The usual stories will be told, generally for the 3,725th time as Uncle Bob once again succeeds in embarassing Little Timmy (now 35 years old) by telling everyone about the time he ended up naked in the neighbor's swimming pool.

In Japan, things go a little differently. There actually is a holiday very similar to the American Thanksgiving, known as Kinro Kansha no Hi (勤労感謝の日), or "Labor Thanksgiving Day". Taking place on November 23 every year, it was originally a harvest festival known as "Niinamesai" that dates back to the 7th century. After World War II, in 1948, the focus of the holiday shifted to acknowledge and celebrate fundamental human rights.

If you happen to be in Japan on this day, check out your local area for special events being held by nearby temples and shrines. There are plenty of cultural experiences to be had--all without a turkey in sight.

Freeter, Ie Wo Kau

It's been a couple of years since I found a Japanese drama (for the uninitiated, they're also called J-dramas or "doramas") that really and truly captured my attention. I'll normally watch a show if it features an actor I respect, or if the premise seems kind of interesting, but it's still rare that a drama will have both an interesting story AND great acting.

In 2008, that drama was Maou. Now, a little over 2 years later, another story has finally appeared--and ironically it bears a connection with the former drama.

"Freeter, Ie Wo Kau" (フリーター、家を買う), called "Part-Timer Buys a House" in English, follows the story of Seiji Take (Ninomiya Kazunari), a 25-year-old "freeter"--a term given in Japan to young adults under 30 who don't have a full-time job. A disillusioned and complacent Seiji quits his job and hides away in his room all day, essentially becoming a "hikikomori" (shut-in).

His already-tense relationship with his father worsens when his supportive mother suffers a nervous breakdown and is diagnosed with clinical depression, leading Seiji to get a part-time job at a construction company. Suddenly the "permanent part-timer" who would immediately quit whenever things got too hard finds himself in one of the most difficult and demanding jobs ever, as he begins to understand just what it means to have goals and be persistent.



I don't usually go for human dramas, but this one is so beautifully done I actually find myself waiting anxiously for the next episode. Considering I haven't done that in a long time, it's a refreshing feeling. 5 episodes have already aired at the time of this post, and the character development is fairly well-paced. Ninomiya is believable as a frustrated twenty-something lacking a solid direction in life, who's suddenly thrust into the role of caregiver for his mother as his father flatly refuses to believe she's actually sick. His sister Ayako (Haruka Igawa), facing pressure of her own as the wife of an affluent doctor, does her best to support their mother, but the majority of the work falls onto Seiji who still lives at home.

Ninomiya does an amazing job portraying the compassionate but frequently overwhelmed and resentful son dealing with his mother's breakdown. Naoko Takenaka is equally powerful as the overbearing, strict father who seems to have deeper feelings he refuses to show, which has yet to be revealed as of episode 5. Although the show has plenty more characters, each with a rich background of their own, the majority of the drama stems from the relationship between these two.

As for the connection? Ninomiya also happens to perform in the same music group as the star of Maou, Ohno Satoshi. Ninomiya even had a cameo appearance in the 2008 drama, which is consequently the first time I ever saw him.

The interesting fact here is that Freeter, Ie Wo Kau is a good drama because everyone is a consummate actor and the storyline is compelling--not because Ninomiya is a member of Arashi, which happens to be quite literally the #1 band in Japan right now. There's a reason it has one of the highest viewer ratings this season, and I'm pretty sure it's unrelated to his idol status (even though I'm equally certain people watched the first episode BECAUSE of it.) I feel compelled to compare it with Matsumoto Jun's recent drama, Natsu no Koi wa Niji-iro ni Kagayaku. Matsumoto is both a great actor and a member of Arashi, but the story lacked both spice and realism. The ratings reflected that, which demonstrates that star power alone can't rescue a mediocre show.

Maybe it's because people are getting tired of the crime shows, medical dramas and reality shows that used to be cutting-edge but are now carbon copies of each other. That affliction seems to have attacked Japan as well as America. But for a human drama, this is one of the most realistic stories I've witnessed in a long time that's both heartwarming and heartwrenching in all the right places.

Comfort Food, Japanese Style

You can't have an interest in the Japanese culture without being drawn to its cuisine. (No, you can't. Stop arguing.)

But Japanese food goes far beyond the typical sushi and tempura that have found their way onto American menus. There's even the Japanese version of "comfort food", many recipes of which I've tried to recreate at home. Here are a few of my favorites, as shown by runnyrunny999. I like his recipes because he tries to show you how to make these things with international ingredients rather than things you can't get in an American market.

Here are the links to a few of my favorite recipes. If nothing else, I highly recommend the okonomiyaki and hamburger:

Japanese Numbers

GenkiJapan.net is a great site if you're just getting started with the Japanese language. It's run by a New Zealander expat, and has quite a few videos to teach you the basics. Here's a quick video that teaches you how to count to 20 in Japanese; it gives you a pretty good idea behind the Japanese counting system--if you can get around the New Zealand accent.

From A to Zo: Hiragana and Katakana

Before you start delving into the strange, squiggly world of kanji (those symbols that leave English-speakers scratching their heads and wondering why Japan's writing system is so complicated) take a look at the two basic, phonetic syllabaries that act as building blocks to word formation: hiragana and katakana.

Together they're the foundation of Japanese. Without them, stringing sentences together would make as much sense as saying "kitty bishop slipper teacup around macaroni."

Learning these two syllabaries is fairly easy. There's only 46 characters, and the sounds are identical in both alphabets. Hiragana is used to spell words that are uniquely Japanese, like でんしゃ (densha/train) and is the first alphabet taught to children in Japan. Katakana is used for "loan words" that came from outside Japan, like コンピュタア (konpyutaa/computer).

The sound of a character can change if you put a special mark or another character after it. Example: the character き sounds like "ki" or "key", but adding two downward strokes at the end gives you ぎ, or "gi". Add the character ゆ (yu) to き and as you would expect, you get きゅ or "kyu".

It sounds complicated, but it really isn't. If you take a little time each day to study maybe five characters, you can learn both alphabets within a month or so. Here's a link to a YouTube video that gives the pronunciation of the basic syllabaries, with hiragana at the top, katakana in the middle, and the English pronunciation at the bottom:



Here's a link that explains the stroke order and pronunciation of hiragana, and here's one for katakana.

Incoming Introduction. Accept: Y/N?

Yo, soldier!

If you've reached this blog because I mentioned it to you, why the hell did you listen to me? I mean, um, thanks for reading. ^_^ If you stumbled on it from somewhere else, はじめまして. I hope you like what you see here. Most of this blog will be dedicated to my various attempts at grasping more of the Japanese culture and vocabulary, often through movies and music. At the same time, you'll probably catch the occasional post about work, or voice acting, or--if all goes well--voice acting work. Please cross your fingers, because mine are already cramped.

The blog is called "Do What You Like" for a reason, and despite any first impressions there's nothing glib or apathetic about it. How many of us actually do that--what we like? We do what's expected of us, what we have to so we can survive, but...how many dreams are lost that way? Mine were lost during childhood; there comes a point you learn to live the dreams of others until your own are forgotten. It's only very recently I've rediscovered them, and now I'm wondering what took so long.

The blog's address, "Umi no Kioku", means "The Sea's Memories". The sea's been around a lot longer than any of us, and its memories stretch eternally. It never forgets its purpose, and always does what it likes.

As for the "soba shop" line, it's kind of an inside joke. You can get in on it by going here, which is a rather wild translation of an even wilder story in a Japanese gossip rag known for bending the truth. Basically I told my friend at work I just *had* to make a blog with this on it, so...here I am.

I'll do my best to keep this blog updated on a regular basis. It doesn't always work, but if you're going to take the time to read this I should at least have the courtesy to write something worth reading, right?

I end with your basic Japanese 101 lesson for the day:
はじめまして。 = hajimemashite = "Pleased to meet you." Said upon first meeting someone.

よろしくお願いします。= yoroshiku onegishimasu = "Please favor me", a polite way to acknowledge someone you'll be seeing or working with reguarly.