This video is by the same people who made the sushi video I posted a long time ago. It shows you the correct way to express your shame in various situations, including bumping into someone in public or violating the Code of the Ninja.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4bMM73-qHo&
I had what was probably my most unusual reference question ever today.
A rather large and somewhat scary young man came in with a friend and asked what we had in the way of Japanese literature. This seemed straightforward enough, but as further conversation revealed he was specifically interested in the oni (demons or ogres) and more specifically was looking for artwork depicting such...because he needed some reference images for a tattoo.
I'm not totally sure if he wanted to GET or GIVE an oni tattoo -- he did have several large tattoos on his arms and legs already, but I later heard him talking to a student worker and it sounded like he actually works at a tattoo parlor.
This guy was lucky he came in on my watch, because I don't think anyone else on staff would have known enough about this particular subject to give him much help. He had a specific type of image in mind (ogre-like oni with large teeth), and said he'd already looked on the Web with no success. We probably spent 45 minutes looking at different books of Japanese artwork. I also found a few good images on ARTstor. None of the pictures were exactly what he wanted, but in the end he went away with 8-10 photocopies or printouts of scrolls and statues depicting oni. Oh yeah, and a Tsukioka Yoshitoshi woodblock print of a Japanese warrior on top of a giant skull with bulging eyes, which I have to admit would make a pretty badass tattoo.
What's funny is that this guy was from out of town, and apparently was not very familiar with the college at all. For all I know he was wandering from library to library looking for anyone who knew anything about depictions of demons in Japanese art, but I guess he finally came to the right place.
Andi recently asked me a question about sushi etiquette. I am embarassed to admit that I was badly mistaken in the information that I gave her, viz., that you can eat sushi pretty much any way that you like and there's no formal ritual associated with it.
Then I found this fine educational video and discovered how wrong I was! I am filled with shame at the thought of my barbaric past behavior. I'm amazed that no one ever openly laughed at my improper use of soy sauce. I don't even want to talk about the salt dish, it's too disgraceful for words. I only hope that by sharing this video, I can help others avoid such humiliation and dishonor.
I've been amusing myself recently with looking up Japanese music videos on YouTube, to see if I can find the songs and artists that were popular when I was in Japan three years ago.
This may be due to some hidden masochism on my part, because as much as I like Japanese history and culture and the Japanese people themselves, I hate their pop music. You can judge for yourselves, but personally this was the one thing that always made me proud to be an American.
Still, I decided to share the following clips because they do provide a window into real, mainstream Japanese pop culture (it isn't all scary porn cartoons over there), and some of them are pretty entertaining in their own right.
1. Mr. Children, "Karumi" -- If you watch just one of these videos, choose this one. The song is nothing special, but I think it's a great video. It depicts the rise of fictional pop group "Mr. Adults". Only the young guy at the end is an actual member of Mr. Children. (Is it just me, or is "Mr. Children" the most subtly unsettling band name ever?)
2. EXILE, "Choo Choo TRAIN" -- this was a BIG hit in 2003, and it turns out it was actually a remake of a song that had been a hit in 1991. That explains why my slightly older coworkers liked it so much. My boss was particularly good at the dance that went with this song. Notable for both scenes of a real Japanese nightclub and the inclusion of a team of breakdancing, dreadlocked youngsters.
3. GLAY, "Yuuwaku" - GLAY is still popular today, but this looks to be an older video, maybe late '90s. I think the scrawny white woman is supposed to resemble Mila Jovovich. I chose this video because the obligatory random English lyrics are actually intelligible and coherent. Also, the (male) guitar player seems to be wearing a miniskirt.
4. Ayumi Hamasaki, "Startin" --Ms. Hamasaki is the Queen of Japanese Pop Music, sort of like Britney Spears a few years ago, or Mariah Carey a few years before that. This is a funny video that's also a nice example of the Japanese perception of American pop culture.
I was happy to finally find this video on YouTube -- I actually own it on DVD myself, but since I have a slow home connection this is the only way I can share it with you all.
This cover of Toni Basil's "Hey Mickey!" was the #1 hit of the summer the year I was in Japan. I remember I'd be walking around and I'd hear "Hey Mickey!" playing, and it would take me a second to realize there was something...different...about it. Like...it's in Japanese.
Of course, if you're watching the video the major difference is immediately apparent. But I'll let you discover that for yourselves.
Here's a site I found today that will transliterate common English first names into Japanese katakana. Set the style to "Calligraphy", "Sans Serif", or "Manga" for the most easily readable results.
I checked out several names and it seems to work well. Apparently the programmer took the trouble of actually making a dictionary of common names and their transliterations instead of the easier (and far less accurate) method of transliterating each combination of letters separately.
The downside of this is that if you have an unusual name or one not in the database, it won't be able to transliterate your name. But for the names it does have (and there are a lot), it does a pretty good job.
