'Manners police' hit Japan metros

Newly appointed "etiquette police" will be asking travellers to turn down their headphones and give up their seats for their elders and betters.

The move comes amid growing concern that etiquette is losing its hallowed place in Japanese society.

A recent poll found nearly nine out of 10 respondents felt standards of public behaviour had declined.

This perceived lapse included failing to offer your seat to pregnant and elderly people, chatting loudly on mobile phones, applying make-up in public, and listening to music on "leaky" headphones.

A prime hang-out for violators was identified as Japan's jammed commuter trains.

So transport authorities in Yokohama - a port city south of Tokyo - have appointed a team of manners enforcers, the Smile-Manner Squadron, to try to curb some of the bad behaviour.

The team is mostly made up of over-60s, well acquainted with the standards of conduct associated with the "old Japan".

But many of these enforcers will be accompanied by younger bodyguards, should their etiquette advice - diplomatically given, of course - not prove welcome.

The team members, who will be identifiable by their bright green uniforms, will have no legal powers to insist that their advice is accepted by recalcitrant passengers.

But backers of the scheme hope their refined social skills mean they will be able to charm - or shame - culprits into reforming their ways.

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Original article at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7312672.stm

Anyone closer to Yokohama may check this info, and possibly later tell me if there's any result?

Still everyday life

Some other short stories I've been through...

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After coming to Japan, the kinds of cars I usually see on the streets are very different than those in Brazil. That alone is not surprising at all. Most cars are from Japanese companies (Honda, Nisan, Toyota, ... not surprisingly also) with occasional BMWs and other brands considered "high-profile" in Brazil. Sometimes I see some car which is more popular back there, like some Golfs or Polos (Both Wolkswagen).

Still, I never bothered to ask about it, since for me the reasons were obvious: being in Japan, Japanese companies would naturally prevail (especially when you have so many). And high-class cars sell almost anywhere where you have people with money to buy them.

But when talking to a Japanese about cars, we were mentioning common models found in our countries. He was interested to hear that most Japanese cars are considered "high-profile" in Brazil, but he thought that our option for car brands (Fiat, GM, VW, ...) was a little strange.

His answer when I asked why floored me:

"But those cars break up easily, don't they?"

... Ok, can someone who knows more about cars help me with this one?

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After passing the JLPT level 2 and the entrance examination for the Master course, many friends congratulated me. One of them tried to use the opportunity to talk about girl[friend]s again:

"Since you passed the [entrance] exam and you you're aiming for 1 kyuu (JLPT level 1), you should get a Japanese girlfriend!"

"Again with this talk!? Why now?"

"Well, you're staying for 2 more years. It's time enough to look for someone. Besides, if you find one, it'll be easier to pass 1 kyuu, right?"

"Still not reason enough for me to be picky about nationalities. Besides, with that objective, my Japanese would become 'Girlfriend Nihongo' (girlish) in this case."

"Yeah, but you'd have a girlfriend, so what if your Japanese becomes girlish. You'd still have a girlfriend to counter any comment against your masculinity, right? Besides, if you have one [girlfriend], why would you care about what others say in that sense?"

"And considering that I'd lose that point if we break up, I'd also have a good argument about being loyal to her... haha!"

"Didn't think of that, but it's good too, isn't it? Hahaha!"

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Before going to Shirahama, I had to look for some sunblock. It was my first time doing that in Japan I decided to ask for some hints before. And maybe I was right in doing that. Out of the fact that most protection factors here are or too low (maybe for men or some gyaru types?) or stupidly high (because most girls don't want to get tanned at all. It's interesting that in Brazil a tanned girl is attractive while in Japan it seems to be the opposite), a friend's story made me avoid the same mistake.

Some of the sunblocks with higher protection factors are made so that they don't dissolve when you enter the sea. "What's new with that?" one would ask. In Brazil we also have sunblocks that theoretically mantain their protection even if you are wet. Still, after some time the protection wears out, right?

But here some people really DON'T WANT to get tanned in any circunstance (why they go to the beach in the first place?). So some products stick so much to your skin that there's another cream made especifically to remove the sunblock. So whatever rain, sandstorm or whatever that comes, you will still be protected from the sun. (I may be exaggerating a little ^^)

That friend bought one of those without the remover. And had a hard time trying to remove it...

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One joke I probably heard first from Claus, but I've heard again recently... and have been spreading it a little myself.

There are words in a language that are unique to a language and cannot be fully translated (with all the nuances, for example) to another language. One example in Portuguese is the word "saudade". In Japanese, perhaps 「よろしく」 (yoroshiku) is the most known word.

Another word in Japanese that doesn't have an exact translation is 「頑張れ」 (ganbare) and its variants. Some possible translations are "good luck", "try your best" or "keep it up", but those doesn't show all the nuances and possibilities of the word in Japanese.

The joke says that there is an expression that actually conveys the exact meaning of that Japanese word...

"You're screwed."

If someone have ever said it to you (in Japanese), or if you've ever said it to someone (in Japanese) try to remember the circunstances and do the substitution reanalysing the situation afterwards.

You might be laughing by now...

Language and culture relationship

On previous posts about kanji logic, one might have noticed that some discussions end up involving some part of Japanese and/or Chinese culture. And in that aspect, I believe strongly that language is influenced by culture and vice-versa.

That's one reason why I frown when I listen to people who say that the world should speak one language.

So far I've only heard this from American (US) and Japanese people. Maybe the latter case was caused by naivety, but in some cases of the former I can read between the lines "and it should be English" and it pisses me off.

I agree that an international language is useful. And it's usually the language from the most influential group/nation/country around. So, currently it's English mostly because of the US influence throughout the globe. Other languages had that role before, and others may have that role in the future (some say it'll be Chinese).

Still, all those international languages had roles at most as an international second language. Even Esperanto, constructed to become an international language, aimed only at becoming an international second language. I wouldn't believe that it may become the world's only language.

My theory is that even if somehow someone managed to make the whole world speak one language (which I think it's unlikely), culture would exert its influence and start creating ramifications until the language became something different again.

For example, Japan with all its honorifics, politeness and indirect communication. They'd start creating terms to reproduce those characteristics in the new language. Other countries would do the same until the languages were apart again. Maybe that process may have played a role in the development of languages like Spanish and Italian from Latin.

The same person may change slightly his/her behavior when speaking different languages. I already wrote a post about that. And I noticed that I really act a little different when I'm speaking Portuguese, English or Japanese. For example, In Portuguese I'm way less carefree with what I say, while In Japanese I'm humbler. I gesticulate more when talking in Portuguese than in English or Japanese.

My guess is that to obtain a certain level in a language, you also have to assimilate part of its culture. And it becomes attached when you shift to that language. One cannot swear in Japanese like one could do in English. But talk in a low formality level and you may have the same effects... or even stronger according to whom you're talking to. On the other hand, taking informally in Portuguese might give an impression of friendliness.

By looking at the language, it may be possible to get some grasps of the culture behind it. Since Japan cares about hierarchy and seniority, it's no wonder that they have distinct words for "older brother" (兄) and "younger brother" (弟), for example. Also, I've heard that in Japanese the sentence is built as subject-predicate-verb (opposed to the subject-verb-predicate of English, for example) so one would have to wait until the end of the sentence to understand the meaning.

I'm still trying to understand if there's some meaning in some characteristics, though...

In Japanese, why there are so many ways to count things? It depends on what you're counting, so "one" may be 一匹 when counting small animals like puppies; 一人 when it's one person; 一冊 when it's a volume/book...

Some languages like Italian, French or German have more verb conjugations than languages like English or Japanese. Was there any necessity for those languages to strongly define the person (first person singular or second person plural) when speaking?

Different languages have different settings for masculine and feminine words, from articles to genre of words. English allocates all objects as neutral (it), while Portuguese doesn't have neutral, so all words must be either masculine or feminine. In German, some objects are masculine, others feminine and others neutral. In French, there's an article specific for neutral words. In German, there are different articles to use if it's used as subject or predicate...

In the end, my guess is that the only possibility of the "one world one language" madness I said in the beginning would be if "one world one culture" were also enforced at the same time...

Nonsense! But Americans are trying it someway...

More Kanji Logic

On to more "Kanji logic"...

Some kanjis are very similar. So incautious eyes may mistake one kanji for another. I wrote years ago about when I mistook 「和」 for 「知」. I have to concede that they may not look alike that much, though... hehe! But what about 「未」 (sheep of the Chinese Zodiac) and 「末」 (end, waning)? 「土」 (earth, soil) and 「士」 (man. Used in combinations as 武士/samurai and 紳士/gentleman)?

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Also, many words in Japanese sound the same or have slight differences in pronunciation. So, a classic mistake for foreigners is mistaking 「ビル」 ("biru"/building) and 「ビール」 ("biiru"/beer). 「雨」 ("ame"/rain) and 「飴」 ("ame"/candy). For the latter case, the difference is the syllabe that you emphasize - or if you enphasize any. It may vary with the region of Japan (in Kansai where I live it's different that in Kanto); and that's the reason why I haven't indicated where the emphasis should be. So, even Japanese people may face that problem, especially if they come from different parts of the country.

Some examples that happened to me recently were: 「引越し」 ("hikkoshi"/move, removal) for 「飛行士」 ("hikoushi"/aviator, navigator) when I was saying that I am about to move and someone thought that I became a pilot. Also 「星座」 ("seiza"/constellation) for 「正座」 ("seiza"/sit on one's heels) when we were trying to remember a Zodiac Sign and someone else thought it was a different position to sit.

Conclusion: it's very important to listen to conversations considering the context...

(Ok, it was not about kanji, but I thought I'd be a good thing to include.)

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Back to kanji, one that may surprise some is the kanji for swastika: 「卍」. That's because it may look like Hitler's swastika (therefore considered taboo in some regions), but it's actually a bit different. It's interesting that in this case, tha kanji is really what it means: the kanji for swastika is a swastika...

Also, this kanji is the way Buddhist temples' location are indicated in maps in Japan. So I wonder if no one ever thought that Nazis have dominated Japan after seeing those maps... heh! Actually, the reasons for that may come from the use of the swastika in Buhddism. More information here.

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When I first saw these two kanjis, I was wondering if they were really kanjis...

「凸」

「凹」

They look more like tetris blocks... hehe!

Anyway, 「凸」 ("totsu") means convex and 「凹」 ("ou") means concave. They also convey their meanings in themselves; and I still think they look like tetris blocks...

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Talking to a Japanese friend, he pointed another kanji with the character for "woman" that has a weird meaning. Knowing that 男 is the kanji for man and 女 is the kanji for woman, what would you think the following kanji means?

「嬲」

a) cheat (one's husband)
b) menage a trois
c) play cat and mouse with
d) bodyguard

The correct answer is (c). 嬲る is read "naburu" and it means "play cat and mouse game with (someone)", "make fun of (someone)", "torment", "tease"...

I actually found this kanji as well: 「嫐」. But I wasn't able to find out it's correct meaning. The only thing I've found is that that kanji has some relation with 悩む ("nayamu"/worry, suffer), which is interesting considering the disposition of the characters... haha!

Anyway, my guess is that kanji is on the list of "exotic kanji" that Japanese people may not know as well...