[culture notes] Ohitorisama Episode 5
Ohitorisama, episode five! Culture notes :DD
*nakeru; nakeru means "to be moved to tears". nakeru eiga is like, a "tearjerker (movie)" so I changed the translation to "this is so sad!" because I feel like in English it might be more common to say "This is so sad!" instead of "I'm moved to tears!", but that might just be me)
omiai*; these are formal marriage interviews. Parents basically like, send applications to other parents through companies and the like, and there's usually a picture of some sort included.
Yakuzen Bihada Kame Jelly*; In kanji, 薬膳美肌亀. the first kanji indicates medial purposes, the second one means "small dish". The third and fourth, "Bihada" means beautiful skin, and the last kanji, Kame, means turtle. I assume that Yakuzen Bihada Kame Jelly is, therefore, turtle jelly that's supposed to be really good for your skin. :D
sensei,kun,san*; sensei = added to a name to indicate teachers or doctors, etc. kun is used for males, especially little boys, and also by musical units. "w-inds.-kun" "UVERworld-kun" and so on an so forth. san is used unisexually and is the most casual-ish-yet-still-respectful way of calling someone.
first name vs. last name*; also, adding onto the above note, in Japan and many other asian countries, it's considered rude to call someone by their first name upon first meeting them because you aren't very close yet. (Though this is changing a little bit between young people, I've noticed) Anyways, people basically call everyone by their last names unless they're older than whoever they're talking to, good friends, really open/friendly, blunt, or a player. :P
Dave Spector*; "Spector, a Jewish American, was born in Chicago, Illinois. He studied abroad at Sophia University in 1972. He has lived in Japan since 1983. He appears regularly as a commentator on several different Japanese television programmes (such as Sunday Japon, Tokudane, Miyane-ya, Wide Scramble, Yajiuma Plus 'Soko made itte, iinkai'). He writes columns for Shukan Bunshun magazine and Tokyo Sports Shimbun and has written several books.
He speaks fluent Japanese. He states that he became a TV celebrity when he was to be cast in a one time, non-speaking role on a show, but protested in Japanese about the way he was to be used. He believes his ability to stand up for himself impressed the producers enough to make him a regular speaking “talent”. In a documentary titled, The Japanese Version, he points out the novelty of foreigners to Japanese in Japan, likening the relationship to a panda (the foreigner) and an animal watcher at a zoo (the Japanese). The meaning of his analogy is that he believes the Japanese think foreigners are cute and out of the ordinary and will toss them treats if they do something cute, but that's as far as they want to be involved." - wikipedia.
oyakodonburi*; a Japanese dish made with chicken, eggs, and some other things. "oya" means parents, and "ko" means child. oya as in chicken, ko and in child. Sort of uh.. yeah, but that's where the oyako part came from anyways, haha.
http://www.bento.com/tr-oyak.html (recipe if you wanna try it out, lol)
*nakeru; nakeru means "to be moved to tears". nakeru eiga is like, a "tearjerker (movie)" so I changed the translation to "this is so sad!" because I feel like in English it might be more common to say "This is so sad!" instead of "I'm moved to tears!", but that might just be me)
omiai*; these are formal marriage interviews. Parents basically like, send applications to other parents through companies and the like, and there's usually a picture of some sort included.
Yakuzen Bihada Kame Jelly*; In kanji, 薬膳美肌亀. the first kanji indicates medial purposes, the second one means "small dish". The third and fourth, "Bihada" means beautiful skin, and the last kanji, Kame, means turtle. I assume that Yakuzen Bihada Kame Jelly is, therefore, turtle jelly that's supposed to be really good for your skin. :D
sensei,kun,san*; sensei = added to a name to indicate teachers or doctors, etc. kun is used for males, especially little boys, and also by musical units. "w-inds.-kun" "UVERworld-kun" and so on an so forth. san is used unisexually and is the most casual-ish-yet-still-respectful way of calling someone.
first name vs. last name*; also, adding onto the above note, in Japan and many other asian countries, it's considered rude to call someone by their first name upon first meeting them because you aren't very close yet. (Though this is changing a little bit between young people, I've noticed) Anyways, people basically call everyone by their last names unless they're older than whoever they're talking to, good friends, really open/friendly, blunt, or a player. :P
Dave Spector*; "Spector, a Jewish American, was born in Chicago, Illinois. He studied abroad at Sophia University in 1972. He has lived in Japan since 1983. He appears regularly as a commentator on several different Japanese television programmes (such as Sunday Japon, Tokudane, Miyane-ya, Wide Scramble, Yajiuma Plus 'Soko made itte, iinkai'). He writes columns for Shukan Bunshun magazine and Tokyo Sports Shimbun and has written several books.
He speaks fluent Japanese. He states that he became a TV celebrity when he was to be cast in a one time, non-speaking role on a show, but protested in Japanese about the way he was to be used. He believes his ability to stand up for himself impressed the producers enough to make him a regular speaking “talent”. In a documentary titled, The Japanese Version, he points out the novelty of foreigners to Japanese in Japan, likening the relationship to a panda (the foreigner) and an animal watcher at a zoo (the Japanese). The meaning of his analogy is that he believes the Japanese think foreigners are cute and out of the ordinary and will toss them treats if they do something cute, but that's as far as they want to be involved." - wikipedia.
oyakodonburi*; a Japanese dish made with chicken, eggs, and some other things. "oya" means parents, and "ko" means child. oya as in chicken, ko and in child. Sort of uh.. yeah, but that's where the oyako part came from anyways, haha.
http://www.bento.com/tr-oyak.html (recipe if you wanna try it out, lol)