Hungry for Words: Mostly Japanese

Himono onna: Dried fish woman

2009-11-11T18:18:01+01:00

Hi! I'm back! The first draft of my bento cookbook is in, and I now have a bit more time for other writing. So many people asked when this blog would be back...so here it is. I hope you'll continue to enjoy it.

So, today's word is another zokugo (俗語　ぞくご）or slang word that is popular recently:

干物女　ひものおんな　himono onna

You may already know that onna （女　おんな）means woman. Himono (干物　ひもの）means any kind of dried food, but it usually means a dried or semi-dried fish. Himono are often eaten for breakfast, and are a popular breakfast item at traditional inns. Here's a grilled horse mackerel or aji (鯵あじ）himono.

Photo by yskfj

So, what is a himono onna or dried-fish woman? It means an unmarried woman, usually in her late 29s to 30s or older, who has given up on love and sex, and is content - or resigned to - live on her own. A himono onna generally regards all that lovey-romantic stuff as too much of a bother, or mendokusai （面倒臭い　めんどくさい). In fact, mendokusai is her first motivation, or un-motivation, for everything. She's stopped trying to impress the opposite sex, doesn't bother dressing attractively and goes around in the most comfortable clothes possible, including going sans bra or no-bura (ノーブラ). She may also stop paying too much attention to things like personal hygiene, or at least stop bothering with makeup, going more than once or twice a year to the hairdresser, doing her nails, and things like that, except when she goes to work. Anticipating the possibility that she will have no children to take care of her in her old age, she may be saving up a lot of her money, buying her own apartment or house (until recently it was practically unheard of for a single woman to buy her own place) - or she may be spending money on herself at will.

According the the Japanese Wikipedia entry on himono onna, she may also:

Be very late replying to emails, because it's too much of a bother (mendokusai).
Eat snacks and simple meals standing up at the kitchen sink
If she forgets something in her house after she's put her shoes on (remember that in Japan, one always removes ones shoes when entering the house) she may go and get it on her knees, shoes in the air
Stop plucking, waxing or shaving her body hair during the winter
Is not afraid of going to a traditional pub or izakaya (居酒屋　izakaya) on her own
Has stopped having 'heart-quickening moments' (i.e., romantic moments or getting excited about anything)

All this may sound like a misogynistic put-down of unmarried women, but in fact many women have embraced the term themselves. There are blogs out there by himono onna. This one in particular, called The Himono Onna's Household Budget Book or "Himono Onna no Kakeibo" (干物女の家計簿 - see more about kakeibo) - is very funny and cute. The blogger illustrates her posts with the most adorable drawings, where she depicts herself as a fat, clumsy seal or azarashi (あざらし) stumbling through life. In her profile, at the left of the page, she says she's 30, an OL (office lady), and her annual income is 3.64 million yen (US$40,520), and her savings are an impressive 4.57 million yen (US$50,854).

I'm rather dessicated myself...

Here's why I'm busy...

2009-09-15T05:57:33+02:00

Just a quick note: I'm not going to shut down this blog forever entirely! I might bring it back in a different form, but it will be back. Also, this is why I'm sort of busy these days. In the meantime, I've been getting a lot of nice messages from people who are enjoying the archives. I hope you'll continue to do so. ^_^

Yaruki: The will to do it

2009-08-29T13:14:26+02:00

It's still pretty hot here during the day, and I find myself dozing off a lot. I have to mentally slap myself around a bit to get some motivation going.

Which brings us to the word that is the subject of this post: やる気　(yaruki やるき). やる気 means 'the will to do' something. It could also be translated as 'be motivated to do' something. It's a noun that combines the verb やる, to do, and 気, feeling or emotion.

やる気がある　（やるきがある　yaruki ga aru) = (you, or the subject of the sentence) has the will to do something

Usage example:

今日はやる気があるから、勉強がはかどる。　(きょうはやるきがあるから、べんきょうがはかどる　　kyou wa yaruki ga aru kara, benkyou ga hakadoru.
- Because I'm motivated today, my studying is going well.

When used as a question, the meaning changes a bit, to "do you want to do (something)?"

Usage example:

アルバイトやる気がある？　（あるばいとやるきがある？　arubaito yaruki ga aru?) -- Do you want to work part time (or take that part time job?) (see more about arubaito)

やる気がない　(やるきがない　yaruki ga nai) - (you, or the subject of the sentence) doesn't have the will or desire to do something/can't get up the motivation to do something.

Usage example:

今日は暑すぎて、何にもやる気がない。(きょうはあつすぎて、なにもやるきがない。　kyou wa atsusugite, nani mo yaru ki ga nai) -- It's too hot today, I don't have the will to do anything.

やる気を出す　(やるきをだす　yaruki o dasu) - (you, or the subject of the sentence) gets (or attempts to get) motivated.

Usage example:

やる気を出して、ジョッギングする。(やるきをだして、じょっぎんぐする　yaruki o dashite, joggingu suru)
- (I will) get my ass in gear and go jogging.

やる気が出ない　（やるきがでない　yaruki ga denai）- (you, or the subject of the sentence) can't get the motivation going to do something.

Usage example:

作文を提出しなければいけないのだけど、なぜかやる気が出ない。（さくぶんをていしゅつしなければいけないのだけど、なぜかやるきがでない。　sakubun o teishutsu shinakereba ikenai no dakedo, nazeka yaruki ga denai）
- I have to hand in an essay, but for some reason I can't get motivated.

やる気 is a difficult thing, if you lose it or can't get it going.

Which brings me to the subject of this blog. I haven't really been updating it properly for a while now, partly because I have been really busy, but I am now officially going to take a break. There are plenty of good resources out there for learning Japanese online, and I don't think I have the 時間　(じかん　jikan - time）or やる気　to get this site up to being a full fledged learning resource. I may relaunch it as a kind of commentary blog with some language thrown in - which it sort of is anyway. I have also been thinking about a full Japanese blog - if I decide to do that, I may just not have the time for the commentary with Japanese blog. We'll see.

In the meantime though, it's going on a break for a couple of months. If you want to be informed of its status, please follow me on Twitter, where I'll continue tweeting in Japanese sporadically. And my bento and food sites will continue as normal, sort of. I have a big deadline to meet in a few weeks also...which I'll explain somewhere eventually.

取りあえずはここまで。又いつかね！

Terminal illness and cancer in Japan

2009-08-20T11:30:49+02:00

This morning, I got some very bad news from my mother. One of my uncles has advanced pancreatic cancer (膵臓癌　すいぞうがん　suizou-gan), and the whole family was called to the hospital so that the doctors could brief them on his condition.

This may not seem so unusual to you, but it is a fairly new development in Japanese society. Until about 20 years or even 10 years ago, the norm was for doctors to not tell the patient, and sometimes not even the patient's family, about a terminal illness or an illness that has some kind of stigma attached to it, such as AIDS or other sexually transmitted disease. Cancer especially was considered to be an illness that should be hidden. The reasoning behind this was that telling a patient that he or she had such a grave illness would be detrimental to the patient's wellbeing. Ignorance is bliss, as they say. It also reflects the doctor-patient relationship as it used to be, where the doctor told the patient what to do, and was an authority figure. Even now, a doctor is addressed in the same way, [last name]-sensei, as a teacher or other figure to be held in esteem is, and a medical doctor is talked about as an お医者さん　(おいしゃさん　o-isha-san), with the honorific o.

This has, as I've already mentioned, been changing in recent times. Now patients have way more 'rights' in the Western cultural sense, and demand more information. A patient is told right away about any illness that was detected. And more people are likely to bring on malpractice suits if they are unhappy with the care they received. However in some areas of the country (especially away from the big cities) the custom of withholding information from the patient still persists. (See this study for example.) If you're a non-Japanese person living in Japan, you may run into some problems getting information out of your doctor. This isn't necessarily (or should I say, not just) because you're a gaijin or even a problem of language; it's just the way things have been for a long time.

Some medical vocabulary:

Cancer - 癌　がん　gan
Illness - 病気　びょうき　byouki
Terminal or advanced/late stages of illness - 病気の末期症状　びょうきのまっきしょうじょう　byouki no makki shoujou. Terminal illness is 末期症状の病気　まっきしょうじょうのびょうき　makki shoujou no byouki.
Medical doctor - 医師　いし　ishi or 医者　いしゃ　isha. In conversation, お医者さんおいしゃさん　o-isha-san
Hospital - 病院　びょういん　byouin (sounds very like bi-you-in 美容院　びよういん　which is a hair salon, so be careful!)
Ambulance - 救急車　きゅうきゅうしゃ　kyuukyuusha

When to use -chan or -san, and other ways to address people in Japan

2009-08-04T14:18:43+02:00

(Yes I know, I know, I will try to post more frequently.)

In Japanese conversation, the suffixes -san and -chan are used regularly when addressing other people - e.g. "Sato-san", "Kobayashi-san", "Mayumi-san", "Taro-chan"*. These are sort of the equivalant of 'Mr.' 'Mrs.' 'Ms.' etc. in English, but not exactly the same. If you have been studying Japanese for any length of time, you probably already know that there are some rules as to when to use -san or -chan, but just in case, here they are.

Use -san as the default

Whenever you are addressing someone, unless you become very close to them, you should always use -san. As a matter of fact, unless you are told otherwise by that person, you should always address them by their family (last) name + san. For example, if you met Taro Yamada**, you would call him Yamada-san unless he tells you to call him by his first name, Taro. Then, you would call him Taro-san unless you became very close friends with him.

For older people or people above you in station, use -san or their title/station

Any person older than you should always be addressed with a -san. However, if that person has a specific relationship to you, then you often use their title instead. For example, your teacher (先生　せんせい　sensei) is usually addressed as [their last name]-sensei; using =san would be regarded as being disrespectful. Native-speaker language teachers often tell their students to call them by their first names, but even then the natural inclination of a Japanese person is to attach a -sensei to that, e.g. Eric (Erikku)-sensei. Writers and other people held in high regard are often called -sensei too, even if they're not teachers.

People above you in a company are usually addressed by their title only, omitting their name entirely - unless you are talking about them in the third person. For example, let's say your division head (課長　かちょう　kachou) is called Hiroshi Suzuki. To his face, you would address him simply as kachou. When talking about him to someone else, you might refer to him as Suzuki-kachou.

Use -chan for children

Anyone who has not reached the age of maturity (20 in Japan) can be called -chan, usually using their first name, by any (older) adult.

Be cautious when using -chan otherwise

With the exception of addressing children, using -chan can be a bit difficult. Keep in mind that -chan is used to imply one of the following:

as a term of endearment or intimacy
to imply that the person you're addressing with -chan is somehow below you in some way

You can safely call people you are very close to (but not your elders) as -chan - your girl/boyfriend, your close friends, your younger siblings/cousins, your children/grandchildren/nieces and nephews. But -chan is also often used to address women/girls for example, up to the age of say 30 or so (the upper age limit is creeping up). Most Japanese female celebrities for example, unless they are ancient and revered, are called -chan by their fans. (Some younger male celebrities are also.) I could say a lot about the infantilization of women in Japanese society and such, but well, there it is.

When addressing a woman though, you should avoid using -chan unless you become friendly enough, if you wish to be polite. The only women who are straight out called -chan by strangers are those who are there to 'entertain' their clients (sexually or otherwise) - such as 'club hostesses', 'maids' in anime cafes, and so on.

Sometimes, a non-Japanese person will write an email or comment to me and attach -san or -chan. Maki-san is fine, but Maki-chan makes me flinch a tiny bit instinctively. No I'm not offended if you have called me Maki-chan in the past! But hey - you didn't know any better. ^_^; This is one of those subtle things that may be a bit hard to understand about Japanese societal mores, but I hope this has helped a bit.

Notes

*- Other name suffixes used are -kun and -sama. Briefly, -kun is used mainly to address boys/young men, and by superiors when addressing subordinates in company or school situations for both genders. -sama is a very formal suffix, used in well, formal situations, or in certain anime and manga etc. as a form of affectation.

**- "Taro Yamada" or 山田太郎　(yamada taro) is sort of the Japanese equivalent of John Doe in American-English - a generic male name. (The female equivalent is "Hanako Yamada" (山田花子　yamada hanako).

To be of good heart is to do honest business

2009-06-13T09:33:39+02:00

Yes I know, another long pause between posts. But moving right along, the word today is

良心的　りょうしんてき　ryoushinteki

Before I explain what this means, let's look at how you can try to guess the meaning of an unfamiliar word from the kanji characters used. In this word, you have three characters:

良　

This character is used on its own as 良い　(よい　yoi), meaning good.

心

This is the character for こころ　kokoro, or heart.

Finally we have

的

Read as てき　teki, this is often used as a suffix to words in much the same way as the English -like, meaning 'it has the characteristics of'.

So let's put it all together. The first two characters are 良心　(りょうしん　ryoushin), which you can guess to mean 'good heart'. Attach the 的　and you have 'good heart-like'.

What it actually means in practice is: To be honest, of good value. It's most often used in the world of commerce and business. If a store is 良心的、that means it does honest business and gives good value for the money.

This word came to my mind recently when I was writing about two Japanese restaurants in Zürich in the Just Bento forums. Guess which one I considered to be 良心的!

Kareishuu: The smell of aging

2009-05-07T23:51:48+02:00

On this blog, I like to mix in some 俗語（ぞくご　zokugo) with words or phrases that have been in use for a long time. Zokugo doesn't directly translate as slang, though it can mean that: it points to words or phrases slang, words-of-the-moment, made up words or phrases, and so on.

Today's word is a zokugo of sorts that was 'invented' by a cosmetics company, Shiseido, in 2000. 加齢臭 かれいしゅう　kareishuu literally means 'the smell of gaining years', or the smell of aging. Apparently, Shiseido discovered that as people get older, especially (but not limited to) men, some chemicals that are supposed to smell rather bad to others (presumably younger people) are produced by their bodies. 加齢臭　is supposed to smell like candle wax, aged cheese and old books. Smokers and heavy drinkers are supposed to have it worse than non-smokers. Here's the Wikipedia Japan entry on it. This Japanese site urges 'Otousan' (Dads) to check themselves for this odor after the age of 40.

This naming tied in nicely with an existing zokugo, おじさん臭い　(ojisankusai)　or おじん臭い (ojinkusai), which means to act like an middle-aged/old man, to be a fuddy duddy. No one gets as much abuse as middle-aged men in Japan; they are supposed to be behind the times, clueless about popular culture or computers and the like, balding, overweight or pathetically thin, lewd (or 'ecchi') and yes, smelly. Younger girls scorn them unless they can get money off of them, and younger men dread becoming one of them. Even their wives scorn them, especially if they retire or are made redundant and spend too much time in her realm, i.e. their home. (Older people get a lot more respect in society than the middle aged, at least on the surface.)

The 加齢臭 industry seems to be doing pretty well in Japan, selling things like deodorants, soaps, colognes, even nutritional supplements and teas to ward off the dreaded 'smell of aging', presumably to insecure middle aged men.

The best way to learn kanji is not online

2009-04-24T10:20:13+02:00

This post is not about a particular world, but I often see people on various forums and such asking about some killer software app or website where they can learn, and memorize, kanji characters.

In my opinion, no such site or app exists, because the best, or only, way to learn kanji properly is to write each character out physically many, many, many times.

Before you scoff at the old fashioned concept of putting pencil to paper. let me explain. Kanji characters depend a lot on the stroke direction of each swash or line. (For that matter, some katakana characters do also: can you tell the difference between ソ　and ン?) Stroke order is not as important for reading comprehension, but can make a difference when you are writing kanji by hand. And I don't really know of a better way to learn these things than by writing out the characters repeatedly until you develop a muscle memory for how the characters should be written. You can't do that by typing.

If you live in an area near a Japanese bookstore, go and look for a 漢字練習帳　(かんじれんしゅうちょう　kanji renshuuchou) - a kanji practice notebook. These have pages with large grids that are perfect for practicing your kanji by hand. They're used by kids in elementary school in Japan. Of course you can always practice on any old piece of paper, but the notebooks are nice to write in.

You can use an online resource to organize your kanji study, but for practice and memorization? Do it by hand.

How I learned

In case you are thinking, "She's Japanese, how can she understand how it is for a non-Japanese to learn kanji", let me tell you how to learned all the kanji required to be learned by the 5th grade in a few months, when I was about 10!

I was born in the Tokyo area, and lived there until age 5, when my parents moved to London. I was already reading by that age (see my English Twitter page for a photo of me reading intently at around age 3 or 4...though I'm not sure if I was actually comprehending anything!), but of course mostly kana-base pictured books and such.

For the next 4 years, I attended regular schools in England and didn't learn much Japanese. Then we moved to the U.S., in the summer when I was age 10. My parents knew we'd be returning to Japan the next year, so they wanted to put me in the Saturday Japanese school.

My mother sat me down with a simple book, and told me to read. To her horror, she discovered that I could barely read at all. So, she had a correspondence course for overseas Japanese kids sent over - for grades 1 through 4. From June to September, she sat me down every day, making me go through the correspondence course. The kanji was especially difficult - she made me practice those characters, over and over and over again.

I really hated this...it was summer, and I wanted to be playing with my new friends! I remember threatening to jump out of the window of our 5th floor apartment several times. But my mother perservered. By the time September rolled around, the Japanese Saturday school was not sure that I could keep up with the other 4th grade level kids, but I could, just barely. (I hated going to that school anyway for other reasons, but that's another story.)

The next year, we did indeed return to Japan. Once again the regular elementary school near our new home wasn't sure that I was ready to jump into the 2nd term 5th grade, but they put me in anyway. I remember feeling very strange and foreign for the first few weeks, but after that I really had little problem. I could keep up fine with all the lessons. And that summer of intensive drilling by my mother was what brought me up to speed, despite all the grief I gave her. (One of these days I'll remember to thank my mom for that.)

So you see, I'm living proof so to speak that pencil-on-paper drilling really works! It's hard and boring, but really sticks.

*This post was inspired by this question on Ask Metafilter, where there are suggestions for online learning resources. I haven't tried any of them myself but maybe you'll find one there to suit you.

Arbeit as a part time job, and other kinds of workers in Japan

2009-04-20T21:33:31+02:00

Contrary to what many English speakers seem to think, English is not the only language from which Japanese imports words and phrases - and often twists the meanings of. Ever since the Meiji Restoration, and even before that, Japan has been incorporating words from other languages very freely.

Which leads to today's word: アルバイト (arubaito), or バイト (baito)　for short. German speakers may recognize that this comes from Arbeit. While Arbeit means 'work' (verb form to work is arbeiten), once again the Japanese imported version of the word is a bit different from the original.

アルバイト　means part time or casual work, usually by students or other young people who can't or won't work at a 'real' or full time job.

The Japanese word for work is 仕事　(しごと　shigoto), but someone who is working part time doesn't refer to their workplace as a 仕事先　(しごとさき　shigoto saki) as a full time employee would; they'd call it a バイト先　(バイトさき　baito saki).

When they go off to their job, they might say 「バイトに行ってきます」（baito ni itte kimasu), not 「仕事にいってきます」(shigoto ni itte kimasu).

'Proper' employees vs. バイト and others

In Japanese working society, a 正社員（せいしゃいん　seisha-in) is a full time employee, literally translated as a 'real' or 'proper' company member. Being a 正社員 means that one gets full benefits, a year-end bonus, and historically (though not since the early '90s) lifetime employment.

Then there are the other workers, which are called バイト、パート　(paato, or part time, usually applied to housewives with part time jobs and never to men for some reason) or 派遣社員 (はけんしゃいん　haken sha-in, or contract worker). Both　バイト　and パート　workers work part time, and contract workers usually work full time, but without the benefits or year-end bonus. They also may or may not get paid for overtime. (Many employment agencies give benefits and other perks to contract workers who are signed up with them, however.)

Traditionally, being a 正社員　has had higher status than being another type of worker. But since the 'Lost Decade' of the late '80s to '90s, when the Japanese economy went through a big downturn, many younger people have preferred to earn their living by being 派遣社員　or even アルバイト. It gives them far more freedom to leave a job if they don't like it, take time off to travel, and so on. This is a huge fundamental change in Japanese society, which has been analyzed to death in Japan itself but doesn't get that much publicity outside of the country, even in the latest flurry of news stories trying to learn some lessons from the Lost Decade to deal with the current worldwide recession. In any case, the Japan of the Economic Miracle of the '60s to mid-'80s is long gone for all purposes...

Wagamama, not the restaurant

2009-04-16T16:11:39+02:00

Today's word is:

我がまま　わがまま　wagamama

(It's sometimes written 我が侭, but it's most commonly written as all hiragana or 我がまま）

It means to be selfish, demanding, care only about yourself, and so on. It is a word that can have a negative or positive connotation, but mostly it's negative. A wagamama child (我がままな子供）is synonymous with a spoiled/bad child.

It it most often used as an adjective, e.g.

あの人は我がままですね。　あのひとはわがままですね。 ano hito wa wagamama desu ne.

That person is selfish, isn't she.

Sometimes it's used as a noun:

おもちゃ買ってなんて、我がまま言わないで！　おもちゃかってなんて、わがままいわないで！ omocha katte nante, wagamama iwanaide!

Don't say selfish (things) like 'buy me a toy'!

So what about that restaurant then?

According to the Wagamama Wikipedia page, the London based chain of 'TGIFA'* pan-Asian eateries "defines wagamama as "wilful / naughty child". I guess they mean that in a positive way.

If you want to see what I and others think of Wagamama, take a look at this forum topic over on Just Bento.

(*Thank God It's Fake Asian ^_^;)

Hungry for Words: Mostly Japanese

Himono onna: Dried fish woman

Here's why I'm busy...

Yaruki: The will to do it

Terminal illness and cancer in Japan

Some medical vocabulary:

When to use -chan or -san, and other ways to address people in Japan

Use -san as the default

For older people or people above you in station, use -san or their title/station

Use -chan for children

Be cautious when using -chan otherwise

Notes

To be of good heart is to do honest business

Kareishuu: The smell of aging

The best way to learn kanji is not online

More than 1000 kanji required to read a newspaper

How I learned

Arbeit as a part time job, and other kinds of workers in Japan

'Proper' employees vs. バイト and others

Wagamama, not the restaurant

So what about that restaurant then?