Amusing
I didn’t mention it in the Zuiikin English post, but one of the videos contained a great little nugget of nihonjinron that’s definitely worth noting. The video in question — which Claytonian has already duly pointed out — is apparently the final episode of the series and the producers, in response to requests from non-Japanese viewers, decided to devote it to teaching Japanese phrases instead of English (sadly, they also replaced the Zuiikin Gals with three freaky Caucasian geezers).
To anyone who can’t be bothered to watch the video, here’s a quote from the introduction to the lesson, which was narrated over scenes of a toned Japanese guy doing various exercises:
First of all, our muslces and those of the Japanese are basically built differently. For example, their constant bowing and tendency to maintain a low posture results in well-developed lower back muslces. Squatting on the floor instead of sitting on chairs developed different leg muslces. So, by teaching such muscles Japanese, you, too, can begin speaking perfect Japanese.
Nihonjinron isn’t something that I hear people spouting off on a regular basis, but every so often during conversation I do encounter statements such as “You foreigners are so tall because traditionally you were hunters, but we Japanese were traditionally farmers and so we are short because we we were always bent over rice fields,” “You can’t truly appreciate the taste of sushi because foreigners have different taste buds than Japanese,” and so on. Of course, rational argument and evidence to the contrary do nothing to diminish people’s belief in such nonsensical notions, so all I can do is just roll my eyes and change the subject.
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Thanks for the interesting wikipedia link.
When I saw the videa I thought that they were trying to be funny and link foreing languages and muscles in a silly muriyari way… I don’t think they actually meant what they were saying as scientific fact.
But…I’ve heard my share of nihonjinron. And I don’t mind the “Japan is unique” statement, because I do believe that Japan and the japanese people are unique in many ways…what ticks me off is the “this is too japanese for YOU to understand, being a FOREIGNER” part of it, still widespread in 21st century Japan.
Comment by Oscar — 6/19/2006 @ 12:52 pm
I love the hunter/farmer distinction. I’ve heard that several times before.
As though the West went straight from bearskin mocassins to the industrial revolution, while homo sapien nipponicus evolved with plow-shares in its hands.
The fact that Greece and Egypt were at the height of their civilisations before agriculture was even introduced to Japan doesn’t even cross the radar.
Comment by Joel — 6/19/2006 @ 6:17 pm
Oscar: I’ve gotten the “foreigners can’t understand…” line a number of times, usually regarding things generally considered to be “traditionally” Japanese, such as (the aforementioned) sushi, cherry blossoms, Shinto shrines, etc. Oh well, I’ll guess I’ll never truly be able to understand the subtle complexity of taste of a slab of raw fish atop a clump of vinegared rice.
Joel: Yeah, I’ve gotten that line a number of times as well, from everything from why I’m so tall (I’m not), why I don’t wear glasses (nevermind that everyone else in my family does) and why I did track & field in high school (I guess Japanese students’ after-school activities involve planting things in the ground and making them grow). Who knew that I’ve spent my entire life letting my innate animal-killing talents go to waste!
Comment by jeff — 6/19/2006 @ 10:24 pm
This stuff has got to be made by the same people who made that “guide to sushi video”… It’s just too perfect!
Comment by Adamu — 6/21/2006 @ 9:39 am
And seriously, who is that freaky dude in the beginning - he reminds me of Jenkins or that American Taliban spokesman or something (spent far too long immersed in an Asian culture).
Comment by Adamu — 6/21/2006 @ 10:55 am
Is that a southpark graphic at the head of the post?Awesome!
Comment by Rob — 6/21/2006 @ 12:01 pm
Oh man, I can’t get over the “treat Japanese lightly and you will suffer for it” line. It sounds like some kind of ninja death-threat.
“You take our lax use of personal pronouns lightly?! Ten Thousand Years of Ambiguous Pain!!” *kancho move*
Ah, I also can’t forget to mention the appalling accents of the American people in the video. My accent isn’t perfect but at least I make an effort… people like that are just embarrassing.
Comment by Ben — 6/22/2006 @ 5:26 am
No kidding. Watching that woman ridiculously over-enunciate “chot-to-ai-sa-tsu-shi-you” made me very uncomfortable.
And good eyes Rob — that’s indeed Mr. Ose of the Chinpokomon Toy Corporation!
Comment by jeff — 6/22/2006 @ 8:31 am
I think it’s more a case of bad acting than the American accent. Correction, make that: horrible acting.
Comment by Drew — 9/22/2006 @ 1:13 am