Chapter 2. The Dynamics of English Words in Contemporary Japanese

Stanlaw, James
Chapter 2. The Dynamics of English Words in

Contemporary Japanese
Stanlaw, James, (2002) "Chapter 2. The Dynamics of English Words in Contemporary Japanese" from
Stanlaw, James, Japanese English: Language and Culture Contact pp.11-43, Hong Kong: Hong Kong
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2 T he dynamics o f English words in
contemporary Japa n ese: Ja pa n ese English
a n d a ‘beautiful hum an life’
In tro d u ctio n 1
His d e m e a n o u r an d his Sony co m p an y pin in d icated th at h e was an execu tive

w ho co u ld m ak e p e o p le sit up an d listen w hen h e sp oke. I was listen in g to
him , to o , alb eit sitting two seats away o n th e bullet train Green Coach h e a d in g
fo r Kyoto. ‘We im p o rt to o m any o f th em fro m th e A m e rica n s ,’ h e d e cla re d
authoritatively, eliciting nods o f ag reem en t from his two travelling com p an ion s.
‘If you want to know what I think, th a t’s my o p in io n !' ‘And why c a n ’t we stop
this in v asio n ?’ a d d ed th e o n e se a te d a cro ss from him , ‘W e ’re really a t th eir
m e r c y .' I w o n d e re d ju st w h at th e y w ere talk in g a b o u t. W h a t w ere th ese
m ysterious A m erican im p orts th at seem ed to d em o ralize th ese v eteran Sony
b u r e a u c r a ts so m u c h ? A fte r a n o t h e r five m in u te s o f lis te n in g to th e ir
co n v ersatio n , th e so u rce o f th eir an xiety was revealed, w hen I finally realized
(with a m ix tu re o f in terest an d g u ilt) th at they w ere actu ally la m e n tin g the
large n u m b er o f English words that were being in co rp o rated into th e everyday
Ja p a n e se lan gu age.
If words w ere an item o f trad e, th e Ja p a n e s e e c o n o m y would b e facin g a
d e e p crisis. W hile A m e rica n s h ave im p o rte d Ja p a n e s e ca rs, co m p u te rs , an d
e le ctro n ic g o o d s in h u g e n u m b e rs, only a few Ja p a n e s e words have e n te re d
th e vocabulary o f m ost A m erican s, cu ltu ral items like geisha, karate, and sumoo,
o r such fo o d item s as sukiyaki, sashimi, an d sushi. T h e sad truth is th at m ost
A m erican s’ know ledge o f Ja p a n e se barely goes beyond the b ran d n am e o f d ieir
latest c a m e r a , VCR, o r ste re o . In J a p a n , on th e o th e r h a n d , th e n u m b e r o f
w o rd s im p o r te d fro m E n g lis h (ty p ic a lly A m e r ic a n E n g lis h ) is sim p ly
astonishing. T h ese in clu d e such everyday item s as terebi fo r ‘television’, lahako
( ‘to b a c c o ’ ) fo r cig arettes, as well as myriads o f baseball term s (e.g . hoomu ran
‘h o m e ru n ' o r .sutoraiku ‘strik e ’ ); m any o f w hich re fle ct th e im p o rta tio n o f
related asp ects o f W estern c u ltu re . In a d d itio n , how ever, m an y o th e r item s
a re u n iq u ely Ja p a n e s e in th e ir p ro v e n a n c e , an d m igh t m o re a c c u ra te ly b e
re g a rd e d as ‘m a d e -in ja p a n ' cre a tio n s . T h is d o m e stica lly -cre a te d Ja p a n e s e
12 Japanese English: Language and culture contact
English vocab ulary is n otab le for a w ordslock co m p risin g m any item s w hich
have n o real equivalents in U S o r British English. E xam p les o f th ese in clu d e
kyanpingu kaa ( ‘c a m p in g c a r ') fo r r e c r e a tio n a l v e h icle s, rtiibu h a u su ( ‘ live
h o u se’) for coffee shops o r jazz clubs with live m usic, o r afutaa kca ('a fte r c a re ’)
fo r p ro d u ct m ain ten a n ce .
E stim ates o f th e n u m b e r o f ‘loanw ords' in daily use in m o d e rn Ja p a n e se
r a n g e fro m a r o u n d t h r e e to five th o u s a n d te r m s , w h ich r e p r e s e n t s
ap p roxim ately 5 to 10 p e rce n t o f o rd in ary daily vocab ulary as shown in Table
2 .1 .s
Table 2.1 Types and tokens o f Japanese newspaper vocabulary

Tokens Types Noun Types Non-Noun Types
(percent o f total (percent of (percent oi words (percent of words
words in sample) differrnt words in sample which in sample which
in sample) are nouns) are not nouns)
urngo (native 53.9 36.7 20.4 16.3

Japanese words)
kango (words of 41.2 47.5 44.0 3.5
Chinese origin)
kanshuugo 1.0 6.0 4.9 1.1
(compounds
o f both Japanese
and Chinese
origin)
gairaigo 3.9 9.8 9.3 0.5
(foreign
loanwords)
Source: Kokuritsu Kokugo Kenkyuujo (Japanese National Language Research Institute)

(1970. 1971, 1972. 1973).
H ow ever, n o t all loan s a re c re a te d e q u a l. As T ab le 2 .2 show s, th e vast

m ajority o f loanw ords in new spapers a re d erived fro m E nglish , while w ords
from o th e r E u ro p e a n lan gu ages tend to be reserved fo r restricted p urposes.5
F o r exam p le, m ost o f the Italian loanw ords in T able 2 .2 deal with m usic; while
G e rm a n has c o n trib u te d m an y m e d ica l term s. F re n c h lo an w o rd s a re o ften
associated with high cu ltu re , w h ereas m an y w ords o f Russian origin ca m e in
d u rin g th e p o litica l u p h eavals o f th e late n in e te e n th an d early tw entieth
cen tu ry. As we will see in th e n e x t ch a p te r, D u tch , P o rtu g u e se , an d Spanish
loanw ords ca m e in to the lan gu age b efo re Ja p a n o p e n e d its d o o rs to th e West
in th e 1850s. T h e d istribution o f loanw ords also varies a cc o rd in g to c o n te x t,
as T ab le 2 .3 b elow illu strates. T h e left-h an d c o lu m n shows th e to p twenty'
lo an w o rd s as fo u n d in a g e n e ra l n e w sp a p e r survey, w hile th e rig h t-h a n d
co lu m n displays a list o f loan w ords th at a re salien t in th e texts o f w o m e n ’s
m ag azin es.1
The dynamics o f English words in contemporary Japanese 13
Table 2.2 Some estimates of loanwords origins and iheir presence in Japanese
Presence Origins
(percentage o f total (percentage
Japanese vocabulary) <>f all loanwords)
English 8.0 94.1

German 0.29 3.7
French O.IH 0.9
Portuguese /Spanish 0.12 0.15
Russian 0.12 0.15
Dutch 0.10 0.13
Italian 0.08 0.10
Source: Kokurit.su Kokugo Kenkyuujo (Japanese National language Research Institute. 1970,
1971, 1972, 1973).
Table 2.3 Rank order of the top twenty loanwords in two registers o f Japanese
Newspapers Women’s Magazines

1. biim beer £-Jl 1. kappu cup
2. tfirbi television x l/ t' 2. bataa butter / < *-
3. kiro kilogram * D 3. sekkus it sex * <7 7

4. nyuusu news -n .-7 4. laipu type 9 4 1
5. kara/i colour * 7— 5. Irrrbi television f l / t
6. supoolsu sports 7X-V 6. bitamm vitamin
7. basu bus /< 7 7. peeji page ^ - •>
8. rajio radio 5 if * 8. iteuiin design f i f 'f >
9. gasu gas fl 7 9. pnntsu pants nyv
10. holeru hotel 10. SUIljlll soup 7 - 7
11. meekaa maker 11. ameriha America 7 > 'J *
-R
1
12. nesuturan restaurant 1/X h5> 12. durama drama K7 V

13. ktesu case a - 7 13. mama mother •7 T
14. rhiimu team ? - A 14. SOUSII sauce V- 7
15. puro professional 7 15. burausu blouse 1 7 0 7
16. saabau service * - e * 16. oohun oven
17. rrbrm level 17. sutecchi stitch X jy f
18. membaa member * >A - 18. boonasu bonus * - +7
19. muto route 11- h 19. kaatlti card
20. peeji page 'i - y 20. pvinlo point
Source: Inoue. Kvoko (1985).

L o an w o rd d ictio n a rie s o f all types an d sizes a re p o p u la r in J a p a n , with

th e latest e d itio n o f th e la rg e s t c o n ta in in g o v e r 2 7 ,0 0 0 e n trie s (A rak aw a,
1 9 7 7 ) .* E a c h y e a r s o m e p u b lis h e rs d is tr ib u te lin g u is tic y e a rb o o k s a n d
alm a n a cs re fle ctin g th e sta te o f th e la n g u a g e , w hich list th e new loan w ords
th a t have ap p eared d u rin g th e previous year. English loanw ords a re pervasive
in J a p a n , an d can b e h e a rd in daily c o n v e rs a tio n , o n television an d ra d io
p r o g r a m m e s , o r se e n in b o o k s a n d m a g a z in e s o f all kin ds. S p e c ia liz e d
te ch n ical jo u rn a ls also use su bstan tial n u m b ers o f loan w ords. English term s
(usually w ritten in ro m an letters) a re alm o st co m p u lso ry o n p erson al articles
su ch as T-shirts, p u rses, m e n ’s gym e q u ip m e n t o r o th e r kinds o f to te bags,
jack ets, o r sw eaters. T h e r e is so m e tim e s a tra n s p a re n t c o n n e c tio n b etw een
th e lo an w o rd an d th e lab elled o b je c t, su ch as champion o r head coach o n a
sw eatshirt o r track su it, o r a university lo g o o n a sw eater. At o th e r tim es, th e
associations a re cloudy. O n ce I saw a T-shirt with fifty lines o f an en cy clo p ed ia
e n try o n th e sta te o f G e o rg ia c o p ie d v e rb a tim , listing its m a jo r in d u stries
an d cash cro p s. N ot in freq u en tly , a su ggestive o r b latan tly o b sc e n e p h rase
is w ritte n o n a g a r m e n t , th e f o r c e o f w h ich p re su m a b ly is u n k n o w n o r
ig n o re d by th e w e a re r. 1 o n c e saw a y o u n g g irl p ro b a b ly n o m o r e th a n
th irte e n years o ld w earin g a T-shirt th at said Baby do you want to do it! S he
was sh o p p in g with h e r m o th e r, an d yet n o o n e a ro u n d h e r see m e d o ffend ed
o r sh o ck ed .
Jap an ese English in daily life
E xp lain in g th e pervasiveness o f English loan w ords to th e casu al o b serv er o f

Ja p a n e s e society is n o easy task.'' O n my first trip to J a p a n , I was su rp rised to
find th a t th e re w ere two w ords fo r rice c o m m o n ly u sed in th e la n g u a g e :
gohan, th e tradition al Ja p a n e s e te rm , an d raisu, an English loanw ord th at has
been p h on ologically nativized. I found it cu rio u s th at an English w ord would
be b o rrow ed fo r so m e th in g so basic to life in Ja p a n as th e m ain stap le food .
T h e w o rd go h a n its e lf c a n a c tu a lly m e a n m e a l ( ‘ b r e a k f a s t’ , ‘ l u n c h ’ , or
‘d i n n e r ’ ). As an a n th r o p o lo g is t with a b a c k g ro u n d in s o c io lin g u is tic s , I
su sp ected that th ere w ere various m otivations for this, an d several possibilities
im m ed iately ca m e to m ind .
First, 1 co n sid e re d th e possibility th a t raisu was on ly used w hen d ealin g
with foreign ers, but then I n oticed from th e m edia th at Ja p a n e se people would
use the word when n o foreigners w ere p resen t, and I cou ld easily find the term
written in newspapers and m agazines. My seco n d hypothesis was th at raisu was
used fo r ‘fo reig n ’ dishes such as karee raisu, i.e., ‘cu rry ric e ', an d that fo r m o re
tradition al Ja p a n e se dishes, o n e would use gohan, as in kuri gohan ( ‘ch estn u ts
an d r ic e ’) o r tori gohan ( ‘ch ick en an d ric e ’ ). 1 found that this was often true,
but that th e re w ere a n u m b er o f excep tio n s, an d the term raisu was also used
fo r m any d om estic dishes in certain restaurants. My third hypothesis was that

th e c h o ic e o f term would vary a c c o rd in g to type o f re s ta u ra n t. T rad itio n al
Jap an ese-style restau ran ts (o fte n re fe rre d to as shokudoo) would serve gohan,
w hile m o r e m o d e rn o r W e ste rn typ es o f re s ta u r a n ts (la b e lle d u sin g an
English lo a n w o rd resutoran) w ould serve raisu. A gain, th e re was a te n d e n cy
fo r this to be th e case , but this te n d e n c y was n o t u n ifo rm ly co n siste n t.
I finally th o u g h t I had solved th e p rob lem when I n o ticed that gohan was
served in a traditional Ja p a n e s e ricebowl (chawan) while raisu was served o n a
flat p late. However, a billboard in T o o h o k u , an are a o f Ja p a n n o t n o ted for a
high d e g re e o f W estern a ccu ltu ratio n , refuted this hypodiesis. An o ld e r m an
was show n w earin g a yukata (tra d itio n a l Ja p a n e s e in form al ro b e ) h o ld in g a
chawan an d smilingly saying, ‘Nuisu raisut ('n ic e rice ’ ). A lthough this was just
an a d v e rtisin g te c h n iq u e , it d o e s in d ic a te th a t p e o p le in th e ir h o m e s do
s o m e tim e s p u t raisu in a bowl o r gohan o n a p la te . In th e last analysis, it
ap p eared that th e ten d en cies for n am in g rice th at I had observed w ere simply
th at; h euristic ten d en cies rath er than any hard and fast rules. My observations
o f su ch fo o d -n a m in g p ra c tic e s su g g e ste d th a t m an y sp eak ers w ere totally
u n c o n c e rn e d ab o u t such th in gs, an d th e re w ere few situ ation s w h ere it was
c o m p le te ly w ro n g to u se e ith e r te rm . Yet a t th e sa m e tim e , th e su b je ct o f
loanw ords is a volatile o n e in J a p a n . W h e n e v e r th e to p ic is discu ssed , th e re
a re usually an xieties voiced ab o u t the ‘p o llu tio n ’ o f th e lan gu age, o r th e ‘loss
o f traditional values’, o r (fro m so m e W esterners) ‘die co p y cat m entality o f the
Ja p a n e s e ', etc. As my research p ro ce e d e d , I discovered that the use o f English
loan w ord s was a to u c h s to n e fo r a ra n g e o f social an d p o litical a n x ie tie s , a
n u m b e r o f which I discuss th ro u g h o u t this volum e.
M a n y lo a n w o r d s a r e t r a n s p a r e n t ‘ p h o n e t i c l o a n s ’ ( i . e . d i r e c t
transliterations) as in jiinzu ( ‘b lu e je a n s '), basu ( ‘bus’ ), koohii ( ‘co ffee ’ ), kuuraa
( ‘c o o le r ’, o r ‘a ir-co n d itio n e r’ ), o r apaalo ( ‘a p a rtm e n t’ ) . 7 O th e r ‘lo an w o rd s’
re fer to ob jects o r p h en o m e n a th at are particularly o r uniquely Ja p a n e s e . F o r
e x a m p le , gooruden uiiku ( ‘G o ld en W e e k ') m ean s th e trad itio n al w eek-long
series o f holidays startin g with th e Shoow a E m p e ro r’s birthd ay o n 2 9 A pril,
in clu d in g C onstitu tion Day o n 3 May, an d en d in g on C h ild re n ’s Day, 5 May.8
Similarly, m any o th e r loanw ords have only a b lu rred resem b lan ce to item s in
o th e r varieties o f E n glish , an d it is n o t unusual fo r th e English loan w ord to
take on a restricted m ean in g in co m p ariso n with that o f th e A m erican English
eq u iv alen t. F o r e x a m p le , th e J a p a n e s e E nglish w ord k a n n in g u ( ‘c u n n in g ’ )
gen erally d esig n ates c u n n in g in an e x a m in a tio n (i.e . ‘c h e a tin g ') . Sutoraiki
( ‘strik e’ ) refers only to a walkout o r lab ou r dispute and has n o n e o f th e o th e r
m o re basic m ean in gs associated th e item in B ritish o r A m e rica n English.
M etap h o rs based on English e n te r J a p a n e s e , but th e loanw ords used to
sym bolize th em a re o ften d ifferen t from th ose in o th e r varieties o f English.
F o r e x a m p le , a ‘sp a g h e tti w e s te rn ’ b e c o m e s makaroni ursutan ( ‘ m a c a ro n i
w estern ’ ), while a dokutaa sutoppu ( ‘d o c to r s to p ’ ) is a p ro h ib itio n o n ce rta in
activities u n d e r d o c t o r ’s ad vice (e .g . Dokulaa sutoppu de k in ’m -ch u u nan da!

‘ I’ m n o t sm o k in g b e c a u s e o f my d o c to r ’s o r d e r s !’ ) . P aapurin ( ‘p u rp lin g ’ )
refers to y o u n g p eop le m aking a n u isan ce o f them selves, an d is d erived fro m
th e fashion o f teen ag e m o to rcy cle gangs w earing p urple scarves. T h e recen tly
d e -n a tio n a liz e d Ja panese N a tio n a l Railways h ad a very su cc e ss fu l to u ris t
p r o m o t io n w ith a D iscover J a p a n s lo g a n . In 1 9 8 3 th e y s ta r te d a n o t h e r
c a m p a ig n , Naisu M idii Pasu ( ‘N ice Midi Pass’ ), g e a re d to e n co u ra g e m iddle-
a g e d ( m idii) c a r e e r w o m e n to tak e th e ir n ic e (n a is u ) v a c a tio n s o n th e
N a tio n a l Railways, u sin g sp ecial o p e n tick ets (p a su ) th a t allow rail travel
an y w h e re in J a p a n . A n o th e r e x a m p le is th e use o f p in k u -firu m u o r p in k u
m uubii ‘ pink film ’ o r ‘p in k m o v ie ’ f o r b lu e m o v ie ’ (su ch m e ta p h o rs a re
s o m e tim e s ig n o re d , a n d th e te rm Jakku eiga ‘fu ck film ’ is also so m e tim e s
u se d ).
Ja p a n e se E n glish w ords, just like n ative te rm s, ca n c a rry a v ariety o f
m ean in gs. Hotto ( ‘h o t’ ) refers to warm beverages, an d g oin g to a co ffee shop
a n d saying hotto kudasai ( ‘ H o t, p le a se ') will g et you a cu p o f h o t co ffe e . Also
h eard , how ever, are th e latest hotto nyutisu ( ‘h o t news’ ) o r hotto-na wadai ( ‘h o t
to p ic ’ ). And th e re is also th e term hotto-na kappuru ('h o t c o u p le ’ ), w hich is
used by the m ed ia to re fe r to celeb rity co u p les from th e film an d p o p m usic
worlds. S om e ob servers have claim ed m u ch o f th e English now p o llu tin g the
Ja p a n e s e lan gu age has been sp read by th e ad vertisin g industry, a n d it is tru e
that advertisem en ts acro ss all m ed ia use English words extensively. T h ese are
fo u n d in su ch p ro d u c t n am es as Cattle-Boutique (le a th e r g o o d s s h o p ). White
a n d White (to o th p a s te ), an d Mirny Fish (ca t fo o d ), an d so m e loanw ords have
even m o rp h e d in to g e n e ric n am es, su ch as shaa-pen (o r shaapu-pen o r shaapu-
p en s h iru ) f o r ‘ m e c h a n ic a l p e n c i l ’ (f r o m ‘ E v e r s h a r p ’ ) , o r k u ra k u sh o n
( ‘. au tom ob ile h o rn ’, fro m ‘K la x o n ').
Even local sto res may use English n am es fo r ey e-catch in g p u rp o ses. F o r
e x a m p le , o n e s to re in th e sh o p p in g m all a t th e Y o k o h am a railway statio n
d isp la y s th e n a m e , It's d e m o . T o u n i n i tia t e d o b s e r v e r , th is m ig h t b e
u n d e r s to o d as ‘ it is a d e m o ', p e rh a p s a s to r e w h e re new p r o d u c ts a r e
d e m o n s tra te d . But if th e n a m e is p ro n o u n c e d with a ‘n ativ ized ’ Ja p a n e s e
p ro n u n c ia tio n , it th e n b e c o m e s itsu-demo, th e J a p a n e s e w ord fo r ‘alw ays’,
w hich is en tirely a p p ro p ria te fo r th e a ctu al fu n ctio n o f th e sh o p , a 2 4 -h o u r
c o n v e n i e n c e s to r e th a t is alw'ays o p e n . N e v e r th e le s s , th e c la im th a t
ad vertisin g is the p rim e cau se o f th e sp read o f English th ro u g h o u t Ja p a n e se
c u ltu re an d lan g u ag e is p aten tly false. In fact, as I shall show in C h a p te r 3,
th e re is a lo n g h isto ry o f lin g u istic c o n ta c t an d b o rro w in g fro m W estern
lan gu ages which stre tch e s b ack a t least fo u r h u n d re d years. If an yth in g, the
ubiquity o f English w ords in co n te m p o ra ry Ja p a n e s e ad vertisin g is as m u ch
a re fle c tio n o f th e ir in c re a s in g use in c o n te m p o r a r y J a p a n as a c a u s e o f
th e ir p opu larity.
O n e v e ry re a l s o u r c e f o r E n g lis h w o rd s a n d th e E n g lish la n g u a g e
"
gen erally is th e e d u c a tio n system . Tin- te a ch in g o f E nglish in Ja p a n is b oth

co m p u lso ry an d e x te n siv e , with alm o st all high sch o o ls p ro v id in g English
in s tr u c tio n in a sy stem th a t e m p lo y s a r o u n d 6 0 , 0 0 0 E n g lis h t e a c h e r s
nation w ide.9 A cco rd in g to policies estab lished by th e M in istry 'o f E d u ca tio n ,
all m id d le s c h o o l s tu d e n ts , an d m o st s e n io r h ig h s c h o o l s tu d e n ts , art-
req u ired to study a fo reig n la n g u a g e an d usually this is E nglish . A lm ost all
m iddle sch o o l stu d en ts begin stu d yin g English in th e seven th g ra d e , ab oul
7 0 p e r c e n t o f high s c h o o l s tu d e n ts c o n tin u e stu d y in g E n g lish , as d o 100
p e rc e n t o f university stu d e n ts (E n g lish is a re q u ire d su b ject fo r all co lle g e
an d university s tu d e n ts ). S tu d e n ts w ho p lan o n e n te r in g a u niversity a re
req u ired to lake an ex a m in a tio n in English, an d m any stu d en ts sp end m uch
o f th e ir p r e p a r a tio n tim e stu d y in g E n g lish in ju k u s (p riv a te c r a m m in g
sch o o ls).
A lth ough English is tau g h t as a fo reig n lan g u ag e th ro u g h o u t th e sch ool
sy stem , E n g lish in th e fo rm o f lo a n w o r d s ', o r in th e fo rm o f E n g lish
n eo lo g ism s ‘c re a te d in J a p a n ', re ce iv e s n o official s a n ctio n in J a p a n . T h e
M inistry o f E d u ca tio n has re g u larly e x p re s s e d dism ay c o n c e r n in g th e vast
am o u n t o f b orrow in g from English th at o cc u rs in Ja p a n e se . Ironically, while
m em b ers o f th e Ja p a n e se g o v ern m en t exp ress official an xiety ab o u t the issue,
actual lan gu age use within th e Ja p a n e se civil service suggests Ja p a n e se English
words a re as widely used as in th e private secto r.
Jap an ese English as a linguistic resou rce
English ‘loan w ord s’ an d o th e r E nglish words in Jap an ese d o n o t simply add

foreign sp ice to an oth erw ise ja d e d in d igen ous linguistic p alate."' Like o th e r
linguistic resou rces, they are used in th e com m un icative strategies o f Japanese
p eop le to ach ieve a variety o f sociolinguistic en ds, an d to acco m p lish certain
goals when speaking o r writing. T h ese may be as m u n d an e as trying to im press
a m e m b e r o f th e o p p o s ite s e x , o r as s u b tle as r e p h r a s in g a p o te n tia lly
em b arrassin g question.
F o r e x a m p le , m an y Ja p a n e s e E nglish w ords c a rry c o n n o ta tio n s o f th e
sp e a k e r o r to p ic b ein g m o d e rn . W estern , c h ic , o r so p h isticated , w hich may
in d eed co n trib u te to th e popu larity o f English w ords in ad v ertisem en ts and
in th e b r o a d c a s t m e d ia . R a d io a n d te le v is io n p r o g r a m m e s u se th e m
continually, an d a very high p rop ortion o f contem porary' p o p songs use English
loan w ord s in th e te x t o r title: fo r e x a m p le , linbu izu oobau ( ‘L o v e is o v e r’ ),
Esukareeshoii ( ‘E scalatio n ’), Koi urn samaa jiirin gu ( ‘Love is a su m m e r feelin g ’ ),
and Tengoku no kissu ( ‘ 1leav en ’s kiss’ ). In 1981 T anaka Y asuo’s best-selling first
novel Nantonnku KurisiUaru ‘S om eh ow C rystal’ co n ta in e d what was p erceived
as a ’h ip ’ glossary o f over forty pages o f n otes, m ostly exp lain in g th e English
w ords u sed in th e te x t.
S om e English loanw ords seem to reflect ch an g in g Ja p a n e s e altitu d es and

p riorities. F o r e x a m p le , m any co m m e n ta to rs have su ggested th at th e English
lo a n w o rd p ossessive p r o n o u n m ai ( ‘ m y ’ ) a p p a r e n tly is in d ica tiv e o f th e
c h a lle n g e o f individualism to th e c o lle ctiv e g ro u p . E x a m p le s in clu d e mai-
hoomti ( ‘my h o m e '), mai-peesu ( ‘m y p a c e ’ ), mai-puraibashii ( ‘my p rivacy’) , and
mai-kaa-zoku (th e ‘m y c a r ’ trib e , o r th o se w ho own th e ir own c a r s ). In th e
m e d ia this p refix is fo u n d o n a vast a rra y o f p ro d u c ts a n d a d v ertisem en ts:
my ju ice, my pack, my summer, my g irl calendar. O n e e x p la n a tio n is th a t it is
difficult to exp ress th e individualism o f th e c o n te m p o ra ry world (in co n tra st
to th e c o lle c tiv is t n o tio n s o f m o r a l p ro b ity a s s o c ia te d with tr a d itio n a l
Ja p a n e s e society) in ‘p u r e ’ Ja p a n e s e w ith out so u n d in g offensive. It has been
claim ed th a t native term s fo r ‘m y’ (e .g . watashi no) o r ‘s e l f (e .g . jibun) tend
to s o u n d se lfish , a n d th a t it m ay be e a s ie r to use an E n g lish w o rd in
e x p r e s s i n g o n e 's i n d e p e n d e n c e , b e c a u s e it d o e s n o t c a r r y th e s a m e
co n n o tatio n s. Similarly, it has been co m m e n te d that when it co m e s to m atters
o f th e h e a rt an d ro m a n c e , o n e is able to use English with a g re a te r ease than
th e native Ja p a n e s e term s. F o r e x a m p le , th e m o d e rn Ja p a n e s e habit o f taking
a girl to a m ovie, o r to d in n er, o r to a co ffee sh o p is d e scrib e d as deeto suru,
d o in g ‘a d a te ’.
F o r so m e p e rh a p s . E n g lish w ords a p p e a r less th r e a te n in g th a n th e ir
Ja p a n e se equivalents, e.g. mensu instead o f gekkei fo r ‘m e n stru a tio n ’; masu for
‘m a stu rb atio n ’ , o r reepu ra th e r th an gookan fo r ‘ra p e ’. N u m ero u s in form an ts
have told m e th at th e E nglish w ord is less lo ad ed th an th e n ative Ja p a n e s e
te rm , alth o u g h W ilkerson (1 9 9 8 ) tellingly a rg u e s th a t this is n o t always the
c a s e . E n g lish lo a n w o rd s m ay also serv e to e x c ite o r titilla te , r a t h e r th an
defusing a loaded term . T his seem s to be especially true in the g e n re o f m e n ’s
com ics, w here various activities a re routinely described using a brutally explicit
variety o f English sexual slang. T h e availability o f English loanw ords may also
provide speakers with a m ean s o f circu m v en tin g o th e r linguistic an d cu ltu ral
co n strain ts. F o r e x a m p le , th e loan s hazu ( ‘h u sb a n d ’) an d waifu ( ‘wife’) may
c o n v e y a li g h t e r sy m b o lic lo a d th a n th e n a tiv e J a p a n e s e te r m s sh u jin
( ‘h u sb a n d ’, ‘m a s te r’ ) o r kanai ( ‘wife’ literally, m e a n in g ‘th e o n e inside th e
h o u s e ’ ). M em b ers o f th e Ja p a n e s e N atio n al D eb atin g T eam to ld m e a few
y ears a g o th a t d e b a te s w ere a lm o s t im p o ssib le to c o n d u c t in J a p a n e s e ,
e sp e cia lly fo r w o m e n . T o th e ir k n o w le d g e , all th e s e s o c ie tie s in J a p a n
c o n d u c t th e ir co n te sts in E n g lish .
Finally, a n o th e r reaso n fo r th e use o f E nglish w ords in Ja p a n e s e is th at
individuals ap p aren tly feel fre e to use th e m in creativ e an d highly p erso n al
ways. F o r exam p le, o n e Ja p a n e se linguist (Shibata, 1975) describes how a movie
scriptw riter invented new loanw ords thus:
In the script I found the expression ’(lower street.- I then asked the script
writer what it meant and where he picked up the expression. T h e reply was:
'I just made it up myself.’ I was subsequently told that the m eaning had to
do with the decoration o f flowers, a decoration movement that was going on

at the time. 1 no longer recall the exact meaning, but there can be no mistake
that Japanized ‘English,’ such as happy end or flower street, was introduced into
theJapanese lexicon by people . . . in a more or less similar fashion. (Shibata,
1975: 170)
In my own rese a rch on Ja p a n e s e c o lo u r term in o lo g y (w hich I discuss in
C h a p te r 9 ) , I often found inform ants ‘cre a tin g ’ th eir own c o lo u r n am es using
English loanw ords (such as peeru paapuru ‘pale p u rp le ’, o r howaito buniu ‘white
b lu e ’ ). T anak a, th e a u th o r o f th e novel m e n tio n e d earlier, also exp lain s that
he invented the term kurisutaru ( ‘crystal’ ) to d escrib e th e attitu d es o f tod ay’s
Ja p a n e s e you th . A cco rd in g to T an ak a, ‘crystal lets you see things th ro u g h a
clou d y re fle ctio n ’, an d to d ay ’s crystal g e n e ra tio n ju d g e p e o p le shallowly, by
e xtern al ap p e a ra n ce s, an d by ‘w hat they w ear a n d a c q u ire ’ (T an aka, 1 9 8 1 ).
T h e issue o f th e in trusion o f English words in to th e Ja p a n e se lan gu age is
a sen sitiv e to p ic in c o n te m p o r a r y J a p a n , a n d d iscu ssio n s o f th e issu e in
a ca d e m ic w ritings an d th e p rin t m ed ia o ften invoke ap p eals to n o tio n s o f
cu ltu ral superiority an d inferiority, n atio n al an d self-identity, an d a ra n g e o f
o th e r so cia l an d p o litica l issues (as we will s e e in C h a p te r 1 1 ). N ot on ly
Ja p a n e se co m m e n ta to rs, but also A m erican an d o th e r foreign observers have
co n d em n ed the use o f loanwords. At the sam e tim e, a m o n g linguists and o th e r
a cad em ics, th e re seem to be a t least th re e b ro a d a p p ro a ch e s to th e analysis
o f English vocabulary in Ja p a n e s e : first, th e ‘loan w ord ’ a p p ro a c h ; se co n d , the
‘English-inspired vocab ulary item ' a p p ro a c h ; a n d , th ird , th e ‘m ad e-in-Jap an
E n glish ’ ( wa-sei eigo) ap p ro a ch .
T h e loanw ord ap p roach asserts that it is impossible to d etach th e ‘English-
n e s s ’ o f b o rro w e d te rm s fro m th e ir s o u r c e , a n d th e r e f o r e th e lab el o f
‘lo a n w o rd ’ is an a p p r o p r ia te o n e . In this view , su c h ite m s a r e essen tially
‘fo r e ig n ’, w hich is a m a jo r s o u rc e o f th e ir a ttra c tio n in th e first in sta n ce .
P ro p o n e n ts of this view would te n d to d en y th a t th ese item s a re ev er fully
n ativized . A lth o u g h so m e m ig h t a rg u e th a t m an y E n g lish w ords a re fully
in teg rated in to th e Ja p a n e s e cu ltu ral an d linguistic system s, th e ad v o cates o f
th e loan w ord a p p ro a c h d e n y th is. T h e ir c o n te n tio n is th e im p o rta tio n o f
W estern co n ce p ts an d words ca rrie s with it a cu ltu ral p ayload. F o r e x a m p le ,
th e use o f th e English loans hazu ( ‘h u sb a n d ’ ) an d waifu ( ‘wife’ ) m e n tio n e d
ab o v e carry' with th e m a ra n g e o f c o n n o ta tio n s , e .g . m o d e rn a ttitu d e s to
m a r r i a g e , g r e a t e r e q u a lity b e tw e e n th e s e x e s , th e c h a n g i n g r o l e o f
m o th e r h o o d , e tc. In this view w ords a re n o t sim ply th e b u ild in g blocks o f
c o m m u n ic a tio n , b u t a re th e tran sm itters o f c u ltu re , in this ca se , a fo re ig n
cu ltu re. In o th e r words, English loanw ords are English an d are loanw ords.
T h e E n g lish -in sp ire d v o ca b u la ry item a p p r o a c h a rg u e s th a t, in m an y
in s ta n ce s o f c o n te m p o r a r y lin g u istic c o n ta c t, E n g lish lo a n w o rd s a r e n o t
r e a lly lo a n w o r d s a t a ll, as t h e r e is n o a c t u a l b o r r o w in g th a t o c c u r s .
Borrow ing’ is thus an in a p p ro p ria te m e ta p h o r, as, in m any cases, n o th in g is
ev er receiv ed , an d n o th in g is ever re tu rn e d . T h e lim itations o f this m e ta p h o r

a re illu stra ted by th e lo an w ord test given at the e n d o f this c h a p te r. U nless
th e re a d e r is fam iliar with th e Ja p a n e s e lan g u ag e a n d Ja p a n e s e c u ltu re , she
will p ro b a b ly flunk th e test (see p p . 3 7 - 4 2 ) . As th e an sw er key to th e quiz
explains, m ost o f these so-called ‘E n glish ’ term s a re simply n o t tran sp aren t to
n on Ja p a n e s e speakers o f E nglish ; they are term s m ad e in Ja p a n fo r Ja p a n e se
co n su m p tio n .
Perh aps a m o re a c c u ra te way o f re fe rrin g to su ch item s would b e to label
th e se 'E n g lish -in sp ire d v o ca b u la ry ite m s ’. A w ord in E n g lish m ay a c t as a
m otivation fo r th e fo rm atio n o f som e p h o n ological symbol, an d o r co n cep tu al
u nit, in Ja p a n e se ; but n o established English lexem e is ever really transferred
fro m th e d o n o r lan g u ag e (E n g lish ) to th e re c ip ie n t la n g u a g e (J a p a n e s e ).
Instead, new words a re c re a te d within th e Ja p a n e s e lan gu age system by using
English. O ften th ere m ay be a co n ce p tu a l and linguistic o v erlap betw een the
new term an d th e original English w ord, but m any such instances often involve
radical sem an tic m odifications. In this view th en , English words are essentially
Ja p a n e s e item s, an d th e ir use in Ja p a n e s e may be very d iffe re n t from th e ir
use in o th e r varieties o f English.
T h e th ir d p e r s p e c tiv e , th e ‘ m a d e -in -Ja p a n E n g lis h ’ ( o r wa-sei eigo)
a p p ro a ch , is actually a stro n g e r version o f th e se c o n d a p p ro a ch . In this view,
o n e th at I tend to subscribe to myself, th e a rg u m e n t is that m ost o f the English
words found in Ja p a n e s e today a re ‘h o m e-g ro w n ’, and a re item s o f Ja p a n e se -
m ade English o r wa-sei eigo, as th e translated term reads in the Ja p a n e se original
(Miller. 1997; Ishitoya, 1 9 8 7 ; Abe, 1990; Yam ada, 1 9 9 5 ). O n e a rg u m en t against
(h is view' is th a t m a n y o f th e E n g lis h w o rd s th a t a r e u se d in J a p a n , in
new spapers, television, aca d e m ic w riting, e tc ., a p p e a r to retain th eir original
m e a n in g s a n d th e ir w ritte n fo r m s a t le a s t a r e in d is tin g u is h a b le fr o m
co rre sp o n d in g item s in o th e r varieties o f English (as op p osed to th eir spoken
form s w hich a re invariably m odified to m atch th e n o rm s o f Ja p a n e s e English
p h o n o lo g y ). O n e difficulty in resp o n d in g to this a rg u m e n t d irectly is that no
a ccu ra te figures a re available to distinguish ‘n o rm a l’ English loanw ords from
wa-sei eigu loanw ords, for a n u m b er o f reasons, n ot least because o f the difficulty
in d istin g u ish in g ‘ty p e ’ fro m ‘to k e n ’ in this c o n te x t (w h ere type re fe rs to
d is ti n c t w o r d s , a n d to k e n to r e l a t e d i t e m s ) . F o r e x a m p l e , th e 2 0 0 1
S e p te m b e r 11 attack s o n th e W orld T rad e C e n te r ad d ed lerorti ( ‘te rro ris m ’ )
to the lan gu age alongside the previously e x ta n t lew. T h ese term s are n ot exactly
eq uivalen t, as lerv is a n o u n an d teroru can be a verb, and seem s to p erm it a
w ider ra n g e o f u sage th an tern. F o r e x a m p le , tero-teroru! ( ‘T h a t’s te rro rism , I
tell y o u !’ ) can be ap p lied to situation s th at a re m etap h o rically , ra th e r th an
literally violent, such as in clothes with loudly-clashing colou rs. Thus, th e ran ge
o f m eanings associated with terom a re very d ifferent than those associated with
the original English so u rce o r even th e e a rlie r loan tern, th e usage o f which is
arguably som ew h at clo se r to th e English ‘te r r o r ’.
In ad d itio n , it is significant th at o n ce English words a re b ro u g h t in to the

la n g u a g e , w h e th e r by scie n tists im p o rtin g th e latest ja r g o n , o r te e n a g e rs
inventing new sk ateb oard slang, su ch words often assum e a life o f th eir own,
an d th e ir m ean in gs can ch a n g e in u n p red ictab le ways. In m any in stan ces, if
an E nglish w ord retain s a p lace ‘in th e la n g u a g e ’ (a n d is n o t d isca rd e d o r
fo r g o tte n ), its ra n g e o f m ean in g s will b e co m e m od ified an d will thus be re
m ad e in Ja p a n . To cite o n e re ce n t ex a m p le o f this, o n e m ig h t co n sid e r som e
o f th e various term s for ‘co m p u te r’, ‘em ail', an d ‘P C ’ cu rren tly used in Ja p a n .
T h e E n g lish ‘c o m p u te r ’ a n d J a p a n e s e konfiyuutaa, d e sp ite th e ir o b v io u s
linkage, a re n ot always exactly equivalent. If you talk to a Ja p a n e s e p erso n , o r
refer to o n e o f the p op u lar glossaries o f c u rre n t p hrases, you will indeed find
th a t b o th te rm s re f e r to e le c tr o n ic m a c h in e s th a t c a lc u la te n u m b e rs a n d
p rocess d ata (M asakazu, 2 0 0 2 ) . H ow ever, while A m erican s o r C anad ian s may
have ‘co m p u te rs’ on th e ir desks a t h o m e , a Ja p a n e se likely would not. As o n e
inform ant said, ‘To m e, kanpyutUaa represents the whole system. It is som ething
big. It is like a co m p u te r netw ork o r in fra stru ctu re .’ In stead , Ja p a n e se people
would have a waa p u m ( ‘w ord p ro ce s so r’) o r pasthkon ( ‘p erson al c o m p u te r’ ),
while th e J a p a n e s e E n g lish a c ro n y m P C w ou ld b e re se rv e d fo r ‘p o litica l
co rre ctn e ss’ o r ‘p atrol c a r ’ (what A m erican s call a ‘p olice squad c a r ’). O n e o f
th e reaso n s fo r this is th at until relatively recen tly , waa puro, o r d e d ica te d
Jap an ese-lan g u ag e w ord p rocessors, wre re m o re com m only-u sed than desktop
co m p u ters fo r writing d o cu m en ts.
In th e c a s e o f ‘e -m a il’ , th e re a r e a n u m b e r o f E n g lish an d J a p a n e s e
equivalents available to Ja p a n e s e lan guage-users, in clu d in g these five:
1. e / - Jl> ( ‘e ’-meeru)
2. / — (meeru ‘m ail’ )
3. * * * —)\> (deiishi-meeru ‘e le ctro n ic m ail’ )
4. e-m ail. E-m ail, Em ail (e-mail)
5. -f — > — )l> * (ii-meent)
A rguab ly th e m o st n e u tra l te rm o f th e five is n u m b e r 3 , th e Ja p a n e s e -

English hybrid, th e term m ost o ften used in c o m p u te r in stru ctio n b ooks o r
te ch n ica l m an u als. N u m b e r 1 is fo u n d in m an y n ew sp ap er an d m a g a z in e
ad vertisem en ts, while n u m b e r 2 is th e m ost colloquial an d is very p o p u lar on
th e In te rn e t. In em ails th em selves, a co m m o n o p e n in g lin e is meeru moratta
( ‘I g o t you r m ail’) o r meeru arigatoo ( ‘T h an k s fo r y o u r m ail’) , an d th e hybrid
is rarely if ev er used in this c o n te x t (denshi-meeru moratta fo r ‘I g o t y o u r m ail’
read s very o d d ly ). N u m b er 4 illustrates th e various ways o f w riting th e word
‘e-m ail’ on business cards, where an English expression is typically used. Finally,
o n e sh ou ld n o te th at th e last fo rm , with ‘e -m a il’ w ritten co m p le te ly in the
katakana scrip t, d oes n ot, to my know ledge, o c c u r at all.
T h e r e a re m an y o th e r in sta n ce s w h ere th e m e a n in g s o f English te rm s
b e c o m e re stric te d , e x p a n d e d , o r m o d ified in so m e way. 1 he q uestion that is

raised is, U ien, w hat is a ‘re a l' loan w ord , a n d what is ‘m ade-in-Japan English.'
I w ould su g g e st h e r e th a t a lm o s t all th e h ig h -fre q u e n cy English w ords in
ev ery d ay u se in th e c o u n tr y a r e e it h e r ‘m a d e -in -Ja p a n o r u n d e rg o su ch
m o d ifica tio n s th at we m ay a rg u e th at they a re rem ade in Ja p a n .
At p r e s e n t, th e c re a tio n an d in flu x o f E nglish w ords shows n o signs o f
d im in is h in g , a n d a r e c e n t study su g g ested th at th e p ro p o rtio n o f E nglish
loanw ords in Jap an ese-lan g u ag e new spapers had in creased by 3 3 p e rc e n t over
a fifteen-year p eriod (M inam i, S h in oo, an d Asahi Shim bun G akugeibu, 2 0 0 2 ).
Few societies in today's world a p p e a r to b orrow so extensively, an d with such
variety an d enthusiasm . T h e re m ay be a n u m b er o f reasons fo r this. First, th ere
is a trad ition o f linguistic b o rro w in g (a t b oth th e sp ok en an d w ritten level)
that can be tra ce d back to c o n ta c t with the C hinese lan gu age at least sixteen
h u n d re d years a g o , when w ritten C h in ese p rovided th e basis o f th e Ja p a n e se
w riting system . S e co n d , th e m in im u m o f six years o f English e d u ca tio n th at
alm ost every Ja p a n e se child receives co n tribu tes to a co m m o n pool o f symbolic
an d linguistic know ledge th at provides an e x tra re so u rce fo r m an y d ifferen t
co m m u n icativ e activities, from casual con versation to intellectual discussions.
T h is, co m b in ed with th e Ja p a n e s e p eo p le's stro n g in terest in things w estern,
su g g e sts th at th e m o tiv a tio n s fo r E n g lish ‘ b o rro w in g ’ a n d ‘c r e a t io n ' a re
e x p l i c a b l e o n ly th r o u g h r e f e r e n c e to a r a n g e o f s o c ia l a n d p o litic a l
co n sid eratio n s. 1 do my best to e x p lo re these issues th ro u g h o u t this volum e.
In th e follow ing sectio n s o f this c h a p te r, h ow ever, I shall e la b o ra te o n th e
notion th at Ja p a n e se English (as d efined and exp lain ed above, i.e. com p risin g
b o th lo an w o rd s a n d c r e a te d w o rd s) fu n c tio n s as a lin g u istic an d cu ltu ra l
re so u rce in a ran g e o f subtle and often u n e x p e cte d ways.
Jap an ese English and the ‘beautiful hum an life’
In every Ja p a n e s e city, an A m erican o r British visitor is im m ed iately struck by

th e ubiquity o f English signage in a society w here a functional grasp o f English
(at least for everyday com m u n icative p urposes) seem s frag m en ted at best. O n
a re ce n t visit to Tokyo, I n o ticed a y o u n g Ol. (office lady), stan d in g ou tsid e a
beautv p arlo r, read in g th e n eo n sign flashing in English b efo re h er:
A r k y o u s a t is f ie d w it h y o u r h a ir ?
Ik y o u a r k l o o k in g f o r s u p e r b e a u t ic ia n
. .
T r y " K e n z o ” b e a u ty s a i o n
W e KNOW Y O l W ILL b e h a p p y ! !
A fte r ju st a few s e c o n d s ’ h e s ita tio n , sh e w alked in o r d e r to g e t a pa a m a

( ‘p e rm ’), o r som e o th e r h air tre a tm e n t. O n a n o th e r occasio n in H okkaido, I
saw two teen ag ers a p p ro a c h th e Coin Sriack v en d in g -m ach in e, an d look over
Figure 2.1 Kenzo beauty salon
th e available selections. T h e y w ere stan d in g in a m ach in e e m b lazo n ed with a

p h o to g ra p h o f an A m erica n m o to rc y c le c o p an d a US a irm a n , b oth starin g
in to th e sunset h o ld in g th e ir c a n s Georgia Kafr Ore ( ‘G eo rg ia co ffee o l e ') . As
the two boys co lle cte d th e ir can s from th e tray, th e m a ch in e flashed:
th an k ro c!
An y t im e ro c wan t to take a r est
PUASE REMtMBER V W i V t t . ALWAYS

HERE AND WATTING TOR YOUR COMINC.
N o t lo n g a g o , in a c o ffe e sh o p in K yoto, I sat an d listen ed as th e ju k e b o x

played a so n g by M atsu to o y a Y u m i ( ‘Y u m in g ’ ) , a fe m a le p o p ico n in th e
New M usic m o v em en t o f th e 1970s an d 1980s. I reflected o n th e creative blend
o f English an d Ja p a n e s e in th e c h o ru s o f th e so n g e n title d Sukoshidake Kala-
omoi ( ‘J u s t a little u n re q u ite d lo v e ’ ):
Hsu dalte
I love you more Ilian you,
You love me sukoshi dake,
Kata-omoi more than you
T his m igh t be broadly glossed as It's always so / that I love you more than you love
me / you only love me a little bit / It’s always unrequited love.
I p resen t these an e cd o te s h e re to illustrate th e o ften u n e x p e cte d ways in
which English o ccu rs in Ja p a n e se society. I lowever, as I have m en tion ed earlier,
the use o f English is n o t restricted to signage an d pop cu ltu re, but is im bricated
in th e fabric o f Ja p a n e s e life in a m yriad o f ways, from th e m edia to academic-
life, fro m ad v ertisin g to p e rso n a l co n v e rs a tio n . In th e n e x t se ctio n o f this
c h a p te r I e x te n d th e d iscu ssio n o f Ja p a n E n g lish to d a y by c o n s id e rin g a
nu m b er o f the symbolic functions o f English, and exam in in g how certain term s

have b e co m e established public symbols while o th e rs a re reserved for private
purposes, notin g the interrelationships between the individual's uses o f English
an d in stitutionalized displays o f th e lan gu age. Finally, I provide a b rie f gu id e
to the c u rre n t lan gu age d eb ates on English in Japan (a n d Ja p a n e s e E n g lish ),
which find reg u lar exp ression in th e d iscou rse o f acad em ics, education alists,
an d th e m ed ia.
T h e symbols and exhibitions o f Jap an ese English in public and

private space
O n e o f th e im p o rta n t c o n trib u tio n s th at an th ro p o lo g ists have m ad e to th e

study o f sym bolism has b e e n in th e analysis o f th e re la tio n s b etw een th e
collective and th e individual co m p o n e n ts o f symbols. Firth (1 9 7 3 ) calls these
the ‘pub lic’ and ’p rivate’ aspects o f symbolism, term s th at refer to th e creatio n
o f sym bols, th e ir p re s e n c e in th e m ind s o f p a rticu la r individuals, an d th e ir
c o lle ctiv e use 'in th e c u ltu r e ’ . Sym bols also have m a n ife sta tio n s, e ith e r in
p erson al displays o r institutional exh ib itions. In this sectio n , I will discuss th e
sym bolic an d th e p e rfo rm a n c e asp ects (o r ‘e x h ib itio n s’ ) o f English words in
J a p a n e s e : how an d fo r w hat p u rp o se s they a re c r e a te d , a n d how they a re
displayed o r exh ib ited . Symbols th at have g ro u p effects, an d th ose th at have
social ap p eal an d co n scio u sn ess, o r re p re se n t th e values an d asp ects o f th e
collectivity, can be term ed 'public symbols’, w hereas th e term ‘private sym bols’
re fe r to th ose w h ose use an d e ffe ct m ay be m o re typically o b serv ed in th e
individual an d p erson al lives o f p e o p le (an d may n o t be sh ared by everyon e
in a cu lm re ). L e a ch (1 9 7 6 ) claim s that public symbols are associated with acts
o f co m m u n ica tio n , while private sym bols a re associated with exp ressio n . My
a rg u m e n t h e re is th at Jap an ese English plays an in terestin g role in both types
o f sym bolism in Japan.
O n e obvious an d e m b lem atic e x a m p le o f th e public symbolism o f what I
am callin g Ja p a n e s e English h e re is seen in th e commercial messages ( ('.Ms o r
‘advertising slogans’) for that m ost A m erican o f prod ucts, Coca-Cola. In a recen t
nationw ide cam p aig n , th e lead slogan fo r th e cam p a ig n has b een Sawayaka,
teisuti, I feel Coke!, which m ight be translated as R efresh in g , tasty, I feel [like]
C o k e’. In o rd e r to p ro m o te th eir p ro d u ct in this cam p aig n , Coca-Cola in Ja p a n
devised video cam p aig n s aim ed a t th re e distinct g ro u p s: y ou n g p eo p le, o ld e r
a g e -g r o u p s , a n d h o u se w iv e s. C a s u a lly -d re s s e d y o u n g s te rs p o se fo r th e
c a m e ra an d flash th e ir y o u n g sm iles, an d th e b a ck g ro u n d an d e a ch p e rso n
has a co k e can in th eir hand o r m o u th . Smiles are in ab u n d a n ce as th e catch y
lyrics o f th e jin g le ring o u t:
Figure 2.2 I feel Coke: Swayaka Teisuti Koka Korra
Itsumo machi ga I feel Coke!

I feel Coke!
kan ji no mama
kono toki vo!
Sawayaka, teisuti, I feel Coke!
Always the town feels 'I feel Coke'!

I feel Cx)ke!
Keeping this Coke feeling
just like now!
Refreshing, tasty, I feet C.oke!
T h e imeeji (im ages) h e re a re aim ed at you ng p eo p le, d ep ictin g all th e fun to

be had when drinking C oke, and how cool you can look. T h e song also appears
aim ed at the so-called shinjinrui (th e ‘new’ g e n e ra tio n ’), with its visual messages
o f individualism ‘d o in g you r own th in g ’, an d ‘d oin g it now’. Linguistically, the
jin g le is in terestin g b eca u se o f th e e m b e d d e d cod e-sw itch in g from Ja p a n e s e
to English th ro u g h o u t an d th e use o f th e Ja p a n e s e English teisuti fo r tasty.
T h e seco n d co m m ercia l is d esign ed to ap peal to o ld er folks, an d perhaps
for those yet to develop a taste for th e m ost successful aerated-dyed-w ater drink
o f all tim e. T h is lim e th e jin g le g o e s: Itsuka kimi ni I feel Coke! / I feel Coke! /
uiakaru hazu sa / itsuka (latte! / sawayaka, teisuti, I feel Coke!, which translates as
S om ed ay y o u 'll know as 1 d o , / this feelin g o f I feel C o k e! / I feel C o k e!
/ re fre s h in g , tasty. I feel C o k e ! / ’ . In stead o f th e im ag es o f th e shinjuku
g e n e r a ti o n , we se e tr a d itio n a l s c e n e s : p e o p le p u llin g u p fish in g n e ts ,
g ra n d m o th e rs sittin g o n th e step s o f tra d itio n a l c o u n try h o u se s, s u m m e r
festivals, an d a y ou n g k im on o-clad girl sm iling h o ld in g a ca n o f C o k e. H e r
e n tic in g sm ile b e c k o n s G r a n d m a to try it, to e x p e r i e n c e th e c o o l an d
a t th e a v e r a g e J a p a n e s e h o u se w ife a n d m o th e r . H e r e we s e e e v e ry d a y
housewives in th eir ap ro n s d o in g th e laundry, w om en talking o n pay p h o n es,
an d m o th ers with babies m eetin g each o th e r on the street. This tim e the words
o f the son g ring out: Itsuka aeha I feel Coke! / 1f e d Coke! / wakaru hazu $a / itsuka
date / Sawayaka, teisuti, I feel Coke! ( ‘S om etim e, w hen we m eet, I feel C ok e! / I
feel C ok e! You should know / som eday / refresh in g, tasty, I feel C oke! / ’. T h e
final sh ot is a C ok e m a ch in e in fro n t o f a Jap an ese-sty le h o m e at dusk, with
everyone gettin g ready fo r dinner.
In all th re e films, ce rta in Ja p a n e s e English w ords an d p h rases, nam ely,
teisu li (tasty ), an d I feel Coke!, a re used to co m p le m e n t the visual lan gu age o f
the advertisers. Such phrases may co m m u n icate d ifferen t messages to different
sp eak ers an d a g e g ro u p s , but they n e v e rth e le ss invoke a sh a re d fra m e o f
re fe re n c e g e n e ra l en o u g h across such g ro u p s. In this c o n te x t, th e n , th e re is
d ire c t e v id en ce to su p p ort th e claim th at su ch Ja p a n e s e E nglish w ords and
phrases serve as very effective public symbols in the worlds o f advertising and
c o n su m e r cu ltu re.
T h e use o f item s o f Ja p a n e s e English to ex p re ss private sym bols m ay be
fo u n d in co lo u r-n a m in g p ra ctice s in J a p a n . As we will see in C h a p te r 9 , th e
Ja p a n e s e lan g u ag e has a p p ro p ria te d th e basic le x ico n o f c o lo u r v o cab u lary
fro m E n g lish , a lo n g w ith m an y s e c o n d a r y c o lo u r te rm s (S tan law , 1 9 8 7 a ;
1 9 9 7 a ). T his ad d itio n al Ja p a n e s e English c o lo u r vocabulary cre a te s th e space
for creativity an d innovation when speaking o r writing o f colou rs. F o r exam p le,
in my e a rlie r research o n this to p ic, I asked a fem ale in fo rm an t to n a m e th e
h u es o f a n u m b er o f am biguously co lo u re d objects. In th e face o f uncertainty,
e.g . w hen th e sh ad e in q uestion was n o t obviously a sim ple aka ( ‘re d ’ ) o r no
( ‘b lu e’), she often reso rted to English co lo u r term s. W hen English basic term s
did n ot exactly suffice (w hich was o fte n ), she refin ed h e r answ er by cre a tin g
English-based co m p o u n d and seco n d ary c o lo u r term s, using w ords like roozu
paapuru ( ‘rose p u r p le '), hollo huruu ( ‘h ot b lu e’), an d howaitoguree ( ‘white grev')
in o u r in terv iew s. W h e n ask ed to e x p la in th e o rig in o f su ch te rm s ; sh e
resp o n d ed , ‘I guess I ju s t m ad e th em u p .' F u rth e r q u estio n in g revealed that
she had used a n u m b e r o f th ese ‘m a d e -u p ’ term s b e fo re : ‘O h yes, in fact. I
have used peeru paap u ru ( ‘pale p u rp le ’ ) m any tim es b efo re. My frien d has a
d ress th at is alm o st th a t c o lo u r ’ (Stan law , 1 9 8 7 a ). T h is in fo rm a n t was n o t
untypical as m any oth ers resp on ded in sim ilar ways d uring my interviews. T h e ir
a cco u n ts suggest th at Ja p a n e s e p eop le o ften use English loanw ords to cre a te
new vocabulary' item s in th e ir everyd ay s p e e c h , o r to sim ply play with th e
language, a finding su p p o rted by o th e r research ers in this field (Sibata, 1 9 7 5 ).
T his e x am p le suggests th at su ch new linguistic form s, exp ressed in a form o f
Ja p a n e se English, can thus serve as dynam ic and effective private symbols an d ,
w hatever th e ir p rivate p ro v e n a n ce , a re also readily u n d erstan d ab le by o th e r
m e m b e rs o f c o n te m p o r a r y Ja p a n e s e society.
In addition to th e level o f private an d public symbols just discussed, th ere

is a n o th e r re la te d d im e n sio n o f |apanese E n g lish use to c o n s id e r in this
c o n te x t. H aving just discussed how symbols o rig in a te o r a re c re a te d , we ca n
now p r o c e e d to e x a m in e how a n d w h e re su ch sym b ols a re d isp la y e d o r
‘e xh ib ited ’. T h e re a re personal an d public d im en sion s to this as well but h ere
I would a rg u e th e re is a less obvious d istin ction b etw een private a n d public
sp ace (given th e activity o f ‘d isp lay ’ ), but r a th e r o f a c lin e o f d iffe re n ce s
b etw een d iff e re n t types o f displays a n d e x h ib itio n s . H e r e , 1 d iscu ss two
exam p les o f such activity: (i) th e p erson al displays o f the a m a te u r m usicians
in a Tokyo park; and (ii) the institutionalized exhibitions o f so n g lyrics p enn ed
by a m ajo r fem ale p o p sin ger.
I h av e elsew h ere d iscu ssed th e p e rs o n a l displays of th e a m a te u r ro ck
m usicians w ho g a th e r in T ok yo’s Voyogi Park o n Sundays (Stanlaw , 1 9 9 0 a ).
M ost o f th ese p e rfo rm e rs use English n am es, an d th e ir PR signs, co stu m e s,
posters, an d so o n , are also filled with Ja p a n e se English phrases. F o r e xam p le,
o n e g ro u p w ho called them selves The Tomcats sp ray-painted p h rases like 'We
Are Big Bad Cat, ' ‘No Money, ’ an d ‘M ad Route'on th eir van. T h e ir p e rfo rm a n ce
sch ed u le was titled ‘Tomcat Live'. E ven solo a m a te u r m u sicians like ‘St. Ka/.u'
play th e ir g u itars an d put up b a n n e rs re m in d in g th e a u d ie n c e th at they a re
playing Someivhere today out on the street. A n o th e r g ro u p in Yovogi P ark w ere
n am ed was Tokyo Kocan Roller, w ritten in ro m an le tte rs w hich can be read as
‘Tokyo ro ck an d ro lle rs’ (see F ig u re 2 .3 b elow ). H ow ever, ab ove th e m iddle
w ord o f th e ir n a m e w ere w ritten two sm all S in o -Ja p an ese c h a r a c te r s , ?aS8
(w hich tran slate as rokan, o r ‘th e six sen ses’ ). T h u s th e n am e spells o u t the
fact that they are Tokyo ro ck an d ro llers, but also m akes th e claim th at they
are a d elight to the senses. O f co u rse , in this settin g, th e d istinction betw een
th e p erson al an d th e public is b lu rre d , but it is w orth n o tin g th a t they w ere
n o t professional m u sicians, but a g ro u p o f te e n a g e rs in a g arag e band.
E xam p le o f institutionalized displays can be seen in m any o f th e son g lyrics
o f c o n te m p o r a r y J a p a n e s e p o p m u sic (S tan law , 1 9 8 9 ; 1 9 9 8 ; 2 0 0 0 a ) . F o r
exam p le, th e fam ous fem ale sin ger M atsutooya Yumi (see also C h a p te r 5 ) uses
several English im ages an d m e ta p h o rs in h e r so n g Dandiraion ( 'D a n d e lio n ').
In o n e o f th e ch o ru ses, she sings;
Ki mi wa dandiraion
Kizutsuila hibi wa
kare ni de-au tame no
soo yo unmei ga
yooi shite kureta
taisetsu-na ressun
Ima suteki-na redii ni iiarn
You are a dandelion.

Those days,
when your heart was hurt
Figure 2.3 Amateur rock and roil musicians in Yoyogi Park
fa te arranged fo r you to have

in order to meet him
some important lessons.
You have now become a wonderful woman.
T h is so n g in th e o rig in a l is laced with th e lyricism th a t has m a d e Y u m in g

fam o u s in Jap an . S h e sings th a t h e r love floats like d a n d e lio n seed s o v e r
th e w ater, an d will e n d u re to b lo o m a g a in . T h e d a n d e lio n im ag es in h e r
so n g seem to be w ritten to e x p re s s th e fragility o f ro m a n tic love, an d th e
possibility o f its survival an d g ro w th . F o r W e ste rn e rs th e d a n d e lio n im ag e
m ay a p p e a r m u n d a n e o r trivial, but in fo rm a n ts tell m e th a t if Y um in g had
u sed th e s ta n d a rd J a p a n e s e w ord tampopo fo r d a n d e lio n , th e so n g w ould
have so u n d like a folksong, su n g by a c o u n try girl in love to a c o u n try lad.
In stead , th e E nglish loanw ord dandiraion lets any Ja p a n e s e office lady relate
to th e so n g . In an interview ' with m e , Y u m in g to ld m e th a t sh e u sed th e
title D andiraion b ecau se she liked th e im pression th a t she felt the w ord gave
o f an English hillside, an d th at sh e w an ted to throw' in ‘a little fra g ra n ce o f
W estern c u ltu re ’.
In b o th c a s e s , we s e e th a t p e r s o n a l d isp la y s a n d in s titu tio n a liz e d
exh ib ition s a re often m ad e by using English loanw ords. T h e signs an d songs
o f th e a m a te u r ro ck m u sician s h ad an ad h o c a n d individual fe e lin g , an d
w ere probably in ten d ed only fo r tem p o rary use and im m ed iate co n su m p tio n .
Y u m in g’s hit son g, however, is m o re p e rm a n e n t an d lasting, an d has b eco m e
part o f the e n d u rin g history o f re co rd e d m usic. English words an d im ages are

readily in co rp o ra te d in b oth kinds of m an ifestation s. T h e two d im en sion s o f
symbol c re a tio n an d display discussed above a re in te rc o n n e c te d , an d these
c o n n e c tio n s (with r e f e r e n c e to th e fo u r o f th e la n g u a g e u sa g e e x a m p le s
discussed ab ove) a re illustrated by T able 2 .4 below:
Table 2.4 The relationships between symbols and exhibitions
Private exhibitions Public exhibitions

public amateur park (k)ke TV
symbols musicians commercials
private informant's colour Yuming’s song
symbols term usage lyrics
A lth o u gh it m ight a p p e a r th at o rd e rin g th ese cases in tab u lar fo rm is a

som ew h at re d u ctiv e e x e r c is e , this m ay yield s o m e in sig h ts. F o r e x a m p le ,
Yum ing uses private symbols and institutionalizes them p erm anently o n re co rd .
T h e Coke advertisers co in ed the slogan 7 feel Coke!’ them selves, but th eir in ten t
is q u ite d ifferen t. T h e irs is n o p rivate resp o n se to p e rso n a l sen satio n s, but
r a th e r a c le v e rly -e n g in e e re d m a rk e tin g p itc h . L ik e Y u m in g ’s s o n g , th e ir
a d v e rtise m e n t b e c a m e in stitu tio n a liz e d , b u t th e w o rd s u sed a n d sym bols
invoked a re co m m u n al an d public to a far g re a te r d e g re e . T h e a m a te u r rock
an d ro llers in Yoyogi P ark cre a te d th eir English signs a n d p h rases privately
them selves, but these w ere in ten d ed to be read an d in terp reted by the public.
H ow ever, d e sp ite th e ir wild c lo th e s an d e x tr o v e rt p e r f o r m a n c e , th ese a re
largely personal displays not directly in ten d ed to b eco m e institutionalized. T h e
w om an w ho d iscu ssed c o lo u r te rm in o lo g y with m e c re a te d m an y o f th ese
E n glish w ords a n d p h ra se s h e rs e lf, an d h ad little c o n c e r n w h e th e r th ese
sym bols b e ca m e in stitu tion alized o r n o t, save p e rh a p s in co n v e rsa tio n with
friends. H ers then were the m ost personal and idiosyncratic o f all th e exam ples
given, but n evertheless exem plify an increasingly co m m o n aspect o f Ja p a n e se
com m u n icativ e p ractices.
T h e intelligibility o f Jap an ese English
In Ja p a n tod ay th e re a re m any p e o p le w ho e x p re ss co n fu sio n at th e use o f

English in th e m od ern Ja p a n e se lan gu age. S om e o ld e r p eo p le lam en t: hhi-do
kiila d/ike de, doo iu imi ha wakarimmu ha? ( ‘Ilow are you supposed to understand
that th e first tim e h e a rin g it?’ ). S o m e n ew er item s a re n o d o u b t con fu sin g to
the o ld er g en eratio n , but in m any societies in the world, slang and o th e r forms
o f linguistic innovation is associated with th e sp eech habits o f the young. This
ts also tru e o f J a p a n e s e E n g lish , w h ich in c o n te m p o r a r y so cie ty is o fte n
re g a rd e d as ‘h ip ’ an d m o d e m .
T his is n oticeably tru e in th e p o p m usic w orld, w here it is claim ed th at it

is alm ost com p u lsory to speak Japanese with a W estern flavour. Mashui Vlasami,
a m usical booking ag en t, was interviewed by a m agazine called LIB a few years
a g o , an d I tran slate his answ er to o n e q uestion below. T h e tran slation shows
ju st how freq u en t th e o c c u rre n c e o f loanw ords in his sp eech is:
New Yorkers’ (Nyuu Yookna) select night clubs not only on the basis o f ‘space’
(supeesu) but they also care for the ‘epoch m aker’ (eppokku meeknn) that is
created by the policy' (f mm Ini) and the ‘concept’ (kameputo). This is especially
true as the ‘night scen e’ ( naito-shiin) is multi-coloured. In the very ‘trendy
clubs’ (torm dii na kurabu) are the m ajor shows, that is, the ‘sound’ ( saundo)
called ‘house music' ( hausu-myuujikku). T h e kind o f clubs are the ‘regular
club’ ( regyuraa-hurabu) which 'o p en ’ (oopun) around 9:00 or 10:00 pm, and
iliey ‘close’ (kiimozu) at 4:00 am; or the ‘supper clubs' (sapaa-kurabu); or the
‘after hours’ (afu taa-aw aaiu ) club which are 'o p en ' (oopun) from midnight
until lunch time ol the following day: or the ‘one night clubs’ ( wan nailo-
kurabu) which open for only one day, [usually] on the same day o f the week
. . . there are usually some connections required. And they have many ‘event
nights’ (ibento-naito) such as 'K o rean N ight’ (korian -n aito) and ‘ Placido
Domingo Night’ (dom itigonaito). When I went back this time, I was told by
the producer' (pum dyumaa) who owns the 'Dead Zone’ (deddo-zoon) that he
is going to play a ‘Pearl H arbor Night’ (puaru h aabaa-n aito), For this event
he is calling in a Japanese ’DJ' (disuku-jyokkii) , a Japanese ‘sta ff (suUiffu), and
a Japanese ‘dancer’ (dan saa). (Inoue, 1993: 128)
This p articu lar variety o f hip Ja p a n e se English is simply n ot accessible to m ost

Jap an ese, an d , w hen asked fo r his re sp o n se , a Jap an ese co lle a g u e fluen t in
English co m m en ted : I have absolutely n o idea at all what this person is talking
a b o u t ! T h e o n ly th in g I c a n th in k o f is, it is s o m e g u y w h o is a c o o l
businessm an, who wears sunglasses an d an expensive black le a th e r ja ck e t.’ So
th e lo an w o rd s a p p e a r to c r e a te an o p a q u e in -g ro u p ja rg o n fo r a sp e cific
o ccu p atio n al an d interest in-group h e re , i.e. m usic industry professionals and
pop m usic aficion ados.
T h e q u e stio n o f in te llig ib ility a lso a rise s in s p o rts b ro a d c a s tin g , fo r
instan ce, which in standard Japanese calls for a vivid play-by-play com m en tary,
m arked by such phrases Utta! ( ‘ It’s a h it!’ ), Hailta! ( ‘It's e n te re d the stan d s!’),
o r '// atari' ( ‘A g ood h it!) (Inagaki, 1 9 9 5 ; M aitland, 1 9 9 1 ). English phrases are
often used in sim ilar situations, in sim ilar ways, e.g ., ‘ Tatchi auto' ( ‘H e ’s tagged
o u t!’ literally m ean in g ‘touch o u t) o r shooto goro ('It's a blazing g ro u n d b a ll!',
literally m ean in g a ‘sh o t’ goro grim: i.e. an o n o m ato p o e ic exp ression suggesting
so m eth in g ro llin g o r ru m b lin g ). English w ords c a n also be used as adjectives
an d adverbs: pawafuru-na battingu ( pow erful b attin g ’ ), iijiifu ra i (an ‘easy fly'
to c a tc h ), sutiiru shita ( ‘stolen b ase’ , literally m e a n in g ‘did a sten t). Inagaki
calls su ch p h ra s e s ‘ n o u n s to p s ’ (a n o t u n p ro b le m a tic g ra m m a tic a l ta g ),
su g g e stin g th a t th e se a re s h o rt o f n o u n -lik e lo cu tio n s o f key v o cab u lary .
Significantly, how ever, h e arg u es th at English loanw ords play a sim ilar ro le in
Ja p a n e se , with Ja p a n e se English p h rases a c c o u n tin g fo r so m e 3 4 .9 % o f such
phrases in sports co m m en ta rie s (In agi. 1 9 9 5 ). All o f which suggests dial m any
o f such phrases m ust be well-known a m o n g th e g e n e ra l public.
T h e issue o f intelligib ility is also o f c ru c ia l in te re st to th e a d v e rtisin g
industry. Despite th e claim by so m e co m m e n ta to rs that som e Ja p a n e se English
in a d v e r ti s in g is n o t e a sily c o m p r e h e n s i b l e , m y ow n in te rv ie w s w ith
ad vertisin g in d u stry p rofessionals have in d ica te d that th e Ja p a n e s e English
in th e c o p y is r e g u la r ly c h e c k e d f o r in te llig ib ility . F o r e x a m p l e , o n e
in fo rm an t from th e D en tsu co m p a n y told m e th at all m aterial was ch e ck e d
with Ja p a n e se speakers: 'A fter all, we co u ld n ’t sell so m e th in g if p eo p le d id n ’t
u n d e rs ta n d w h at w e w e re s e llin g , r i g h t ? ’ E x e c u tiv e s to ld m e th a t th e ir
ca m p a ig n s u sed w ords th a t m o st p e o p le co u ld re c o g n iz e an d re sp o n d to.
A lth o u g h th e in te n t o f u sin g katakana-kotoba (fo re ig n italicized w ords) was
c e rta in ly to c r e a t e e y e -c a tc h in g c o p y , o b s c u r e te rm s w e re scru p u lo u sly
avoided; ad vertisem en ts, they asserted , had to con vey in fo rm atio n ab o u t the
p ro d u ct, n o t co n fu se th e a u d ie n c e .
E xam p les o f Ja p a n e s e English e m b ed d ed in advertising slogans an d copy
in clude th e following taken from S u g an o (1 9 9 5 : 8 4 1 ) :
kaasonarilii [Nissan]
‘carsonality’ (versus ‘personality’)
Rout e wa yoru tobuto imu ga nai [Pan American Airlines]

'When you fly at night to I.os Angeles [ Rant in Japanese] there is no loss’
kuuni minto Gtiamu [Japan Airlines]

‘cool-mint Guam' (advertisement for flights to Guam )
Uesuto saizu \ulnoni [Keioo Department Stores]

‘West Size Story’
W ord play an d pun s obviously play an im p o rta n t ro le in th e se e x a m p le s,

ald iou gh th e p u n n in g can also e x te n d to th e ja p a n e s e elem en ts in copy, such
as Guam Guam Everybody ( ‘Gan Gan Everybody!’ ), which was a slogan in a Ja p a n
A irlin es a d v e rtise m e n t. G an g a n in Ja p a n e s e c o rr e s p o n d s to ‘G o! G o !’ in
English, thus suggesting th at co n su m e rs should rush to G uam for a v acation.
T h e popularity o f Ja p a n e se English phrases and the use o f English as an added
linguistic reso u rce in ad vertisin g has led to a ccu satio n s that th e industry is a
m ain instigator o f linguistic ‘p ollu tion ’ in society, althou gh , as I have indicated
earlier, th e em p irical basis o f such ch a rg e s is shaky at best. As for th e issue o f
intelligibility, evid en ce suggests that m any o f these Ja p a n e s e English phrases
a n d words enjoy a high level o f com p reh en sib ility in th e g e n e ral com m un ity.
A w id e r issu e is th e p ro b le m o f ‘ m e a n in g ’ in g e n e r a l. O n e o f th e
c o n c lu s io n s th a t H a a rm a n ( 1 9 8 9 ) re a c h e d in his r e s e a r c h o n J a p a n e s e
television co m m ercials was that ‘ [a ]lth o u g h a m ajority o f viewers can recognize
32 Japanese English: Language and culture conract
ca tch p h rases in English fro m TV co m m e rc ia ls , th e ir m e a n in g is co m p le te ly

c l e a r o n ly to a m i n o r ity .’ H e b ased th is c o n c lu s io n o n th e re su lts o l a
q u e s tio n n a ire given to a b o u t e ig h t h u n d re d c o lle g e stu d e n ts , w ho w e re
ask ed to e x p la in th e m e a n in g s o f n in e c o m m o n ly h e a rd slo g a n s, su c h as
Fo r B ea u tifu l L ife (S h is e id o c o s m e t i c s ) , My life - My gas ( t h e T o k y o G as
C o m p a n y ) , a n d Do you know m e? ( A m e r i c a n E x p r e s s ) . A c c o r d i n g to
H a a r m a n , fe w e r th a n 5 0 p e r c e n t o f th e r e s p o n d e n ts g a v e th e ‘ r i g h t ’
e x p la n a tio n o f su ch slogan s. H ow ever, an a p p ro a ch like H a a rm a n ’s assu m es
th a t th e re is an u n eq u iv o ca l ‘r ig h t’ e x p la n a tio n o f th ese slo g an s. T h is m ay
n o t be th e ca s e . H ow m an y A m e ric a n s , fo r e x a m p le , a re a b le to give th e
c o r r e c t e x p la n a tio n o f su ch p o p u la r U S slo g an s as ‘ It's th e h e a r tb e a t o f
A m e ric a ? ’ (C h e v ro le t), o r ‘M arlb o ro C o u n try ’ (M a rlb o ro ’s c ig a r e tte s )? T h e
p o in t su rely is th a t th e re is n o o n e sin g le ‘ r e a l’ m e a n in g o f su ch J a p a n e s e
E nglish p h rases w aiting to b e d isco v e re d , a ccessib le only to th o se Ja p a n e s e
with an a tte s te d h igh level o f p ro fic ie n c y in th e E nglish la n g u a g e . As we
saw in so m e e x a m p le s in th e ca se o f th e w om an c re a tin g h e r ow n E n g lish -
b ased c o lo u r te rm s, in th e re a lm o f th e p e rs o n a l, m e a n in g is s o m e tim e s
c o n s t r u c t e d a n d n e g o t i a t e d by s p e a k e r s in a p a r t i c u l a r c o n t e x t , f o r
p a rtic u la r an d p riv ate p u rp o se s.
S om e p eo p le in Ja p a n would be loath to a cce p t such an arg u m en t. M any
English lan g u ag e te a c h e rs in J a p a n , b o th Ja p a n e s e an d fo re ig n , a p p e a r to
d etest th e o c c u r r e n c e o f J a p a n e s e E n g lish , in all its v ario u s fo rm s. In o n e
interview , an A m e rica n te a c h e r c o m m e n te d , ‘ [f ]o r o n e th in g , it m ak es o u r
j o b so m u ch m o re difficu lt, they c o m e in to o u r class th in k in g they alread y
know so m u ch E nglish , when in fact they actually have to u n learn a lo t’. This
again rem in d s us that m u ch o f th e ‘E n g lish ’ in Ja p a n is o f th e h om e-grow n
variety, a n d th e m ean in gs o f m any ‘loan w ord s’ a re typically m od ified in the
Ja p a n e se c o n te x t to exp ress ra th e r d ifferen t m ean in gs than Uieir equivalents
in o th e r varieties o f E nglish . S o m etim es th ese m ean in g s d iffer in small an d
subtle ways, while at o th e r tim es they d iffer m o re radically.
T h e issue o f ‘loanw ords’ and Jap an ese English
In th e e a rlie r sectio n s o f this c h a p te r, I discuss a n u m b e r o f p oin ts re la te d

to th e issue o f lexical b o rro w in g an d ‘lo an w o rd s’. O n e g e n e ra l p o in t h e re
is th a t in all la n g u a g e s th e r e is c lin e o f ‘ lo a n w o rd n e s s ' with re s p e c t to
b orrow ed item s. F o r ex a m p le , m o st A m e rica n s would know re g a rd th e word
‘re sta u ra n t’ as an item o f A m erican English, but m ight be variably u n ce rta in
how to tre a t su ch w ords as ‘lin g e rie ’, ‘re n d e z v o u s’, o r ‘m e n a g e a tro is ’. As
m en tio n ed e arlie r, th e p rob lem o f defin in g what is a ‘lo an w o rd ’ in Ja p a n e s e
is n o t a sim ple task. M any o f th ese term s a re n o t im p o rte d at all, b u t m a d e
in Ja p a n ( wa-sei eigo). B e ca u se o f th e alm o st universal p re s e n c e o f E nglish
la n g u a g e p ro g ra m m e s in th e J a p a n e s e e d u c a tio n sy stem , th e d is tin c tio n

betw een ’b o rro w e d ’ an d ‘in d ig en o u s’ item s is fu rth e r b lu rred . F o r e x a m p le ,
item s su ch as th e E n g lish n u m b e r system , th e E n glish b asic c o lo u r term
sy stem , a n d th e E n g lish b o d y p a rts system a r e now p a rt o f th e s p e e c h
re p e rto ire o f alm o st every Ja p a n e s e . In a d d itio n , th e katakana syllabary o f
th e w ritin g system allows b oth fo r th e som ew h at easy im p o rta tio n an d th e
nativization o f su ch item s w ithin Ja p a n e s e . Spellin g a w ord in th e katakana
w riting system in stan tly nativizes an y new item by a d a p tin g th e b o rro w ed
item to t h e j a p a n e s e p h o n o lo g ic a l system .
If we go beyond m ere individual lexical item s an d look a t w hole p hrases
o r sen ten ces which a re b o rro w ed , such as ai rabu yuu ( ‘I love y o u ’), a n u m b er
o f o th e r points may be m ad e. First, m any o f these phrases are cre a te d in Ja p a n ,
an d , seco n d , m any English item s a re often in co rp o ra te d in to ‘re a l’ Ja p a n e s e
co llo ca tio n s, as in th e ‘Sawayaka, teisuti, I feel Coke' e x a m p le alread y given.
T h ird , we also n eed to ack now led ge th at m ost British an d US ‘n ative’ English
sp eak ers w ould have difficulty in e x p la in in g w hat m an y o f th ese ‘E n g lish '
phrases (e .g . New Life Scene Creator, a slogan for l.ebrl Shampoo) a re su pp osed
to m ean , as would speakers o f o th e r varieties o f English. W hich again supports
th e cla im th a t m an y s u c h w o rd s a n d p h r a s e s a r e n o t ‘lo a n w o r d s ’ in a
con ven tion al in terp retatio n , but ra th e r item s o f a distinct variety o f ‘J a p a n e se
English' in th e wasei-eigo ( ‘J a p a n e se -m a d e E n g lish ’ ) sense.
In re sp o n se to th is, o th e rs have a sse rte d th a t all th o se item s th a t a re
regularly w ritten in rooma-ji ( ‘ro m a n le tte rs ’ ) sh ould be classified as gairaigo
( ‘loan w ords’, ftjfcg ). O n e m ajo r p ro b lem with this, how ever, is that th e re is
a g ood deal o f variation in the o rth o g ra p h y used to re p re se n t English words.
F o r exam p le, o n e hit song in the early 1990s from the fem ale rock band Prinass
Princess was so m e tim e s w ritte n as D iam onds (in E n g lish ) a n d so m e tim e s
nativized in th e katakana syllabary as H ( daiyamondo). W h ich raises
the question o f w h eth er both form s should be re g ard ed as loanw ords, o r not.
A seco n d p oin t is th at, in ce rta in c o n te x ts, ro m a n letters a re ap p aren tly used
fo r visual p u rp o ses only, as in th e case o f clo th e s an d m an y o th e r p erso n al
belongings w here som e kind o f English w ord o r p hrase is alm ost com pulsory.
At th e sa m e tim e, it is n o t u n c o m m o n fo r J a p a n e s e w ords o r n am es to be
written in rooma-ji to cre a te an artistic o r visual effect.
In brief, Ja p a n e se language-users today a p p e a r to be e x p e rim e n tin g with
the o rth o g ra p h ic an d visual aspects o f th eir lan gu age an d writing systems in a
way re m in isce n t o f th e ir im p o rta tio n o f C h in ese in th e fifth ce n tu ry a d. In
the co n te m p o ra ry c o n te x t, alth ou gh m any Ja p a n e se English words a re ‘tak en ’
from English in so m e instan ces, in o th e r cases they m ay n ev er have b een ‘ in
the lan gu age’ to start with, al least n ot in th e form that they a p p e a r in Jap an ese.
W h en it co m es to decid in g what an English ‘loan w ord ’ in co n tem p o rary Ja p a n
is, I would arg u e that discussion o f this issue has been blu rred by th e ad option
o f a false m e ta p h o r, that is th e n otion o f ‘b o rro w in g ’, which in this c o n te x t is
both m isleading an d p ro b lem atic.
Borrow ing revisited: Loanwords and Jap an ese English
T rad itio n a lly , m a n y lin g u ists h ave view ed la n g u a g e c o n ta c t (c o r r e c tly o r

o th e rw ise) in te rm s o f sen d ers an d receiv ers, c o n trib u to rs an d re cip ie n ts,
b orrow ers an d givers. T his p ersp ective typically involves look in g at linguistic
c o n ta c t fro m th e v a n ta g e p o in t o f th e d o n o r la n g u a g e , an d in Japan finds
e x p re s s io n in w h at I h av e c a lle d th e 'E n g lish lo a n w o rd s ’ a p p r o a c h . An
a ltern ativ e way d iscu ssin g la n g u a g e c o n ta c t in Ja p a n is to esch ew th e term
‘lo an w ord ’, an d to a ttem p t to analyse an d in te rp re t such p atterns o f linguistic
c o n ta c t fro m th e Ja p a n e se p e rsp e ctiv e . In ste a d o f fo cu sin g solely o n th e
c o n v e rg e n ce o r d iv e rg e n ce o f p attern s o f Ja p a n e s e E nglish fro m th e n o rm s
o f n o tio n al British an d A m e rica n stan d ard s, we m ig h t ra th e r h igh ligh t the
m o tiv a tio n s an d p u rp o s e s s u p p o rtin g th e c r e a tio n o f E n g lish w ords a n d
phrases within Ja p a n e s e society. T his a p p ro a c h , I believe, has th e p o ten tial to
o ffer m an y insights. By tliis I am n o t only re fe rrin g to th e study o f wasei-eigo
( ‘J a p a n e s e -m a d e E n g lish ’ ), but also to th e w h ole ra n g e o f d isco u rse s that
a tte n d th e a c c e p t a n c e , c o n s tr u c ti o n , c r e a t io n , an d e v e n re s is ta n c e an d
rejection to the lan gu age in its Ja p a n e se co n texts; so th at we may m ove towards
a co n sid eratio n o f Ja p a n e s e E nglish ' in a m u ch w ider sense.
W ith in th e lin g u istics lite r a tu r e , lin g u ists ty p ically cla ssifie d le x ic a l
b orrow ings in term s o f fo u r processes: ‘loanw ords’, ‘loan b len ds’, ‘loan shifts’,
an d ‘loan tran slation s’ (o r ‘ca iq u e s’) (see H au g en , 1 9 7 2 ; L ehiste, 1 9 8 8 ). T h e
d ifferen ces betw een these ca te g o rie s d e p e n d on how a linguistic unit's form
in term s o f th e p h on o lo g ical an d m o rp h o lo g ical stru ctu re o f th e word and its
m e a n in g o rig in ate in th e d o n o r lan g u ag e an d a re m an ifested in a recip ien t
lan gu age. In this fram ew ork, a ‘lo an w o rd ’ is a term w here both th e form and
th e m e a n in g a re b orro w ed , as in such item s as geisha, blitzkrieg, o r perestroika.
A ‘loan b len d ’ is an item w here the m e a n in g is b orrow ed but p a rt o f the form
retain s a ch a ra cte ristic fro m th e d o n o r la n g u a g e . A n e x a m p le o f this m ight
be 'b eatn ik ', which co m b in es the English ‘b e a t’ with a Slavic dim inutive suffix
nik. A ‘loan sh ift’ is w h ere a new b o rro w ed m e a n in g is im p o sed o n a fo rm
native to die recip ien t language, as in th e ad o p tio n o f th e native English word
g o ’ to refer to th e Japanese b o ard g a m e carry in g an orth o g rap h ically sim ilar
n a m e in Jap an ese go o r igo. A ‘loan tra n sla tio n ', finally, is a m o rp h e m e -fo r-
m o rp h e m e translation from the d o n o r lan gu age in to the b orrow in g language,
as in th e English w ord ‘su p e rm a n ’, derived from N ietzsch e’s iibermensch.
T h e fo u r types o f b o rrow in g discussed h e re re p re se n t sp ecific types o f
le x ica l tran sfer. H ow ever, th e b asic g e n e ra l fo rm u la is based o n a u n itary
assum ption: that th e re is a c o n c e p t/m e a n in g unit that is taken (o r ‘b orrow ed ’)
fro m a fo re ig n la n g u a g e in to th e ta r g e t la n g u a g e . T h is c o n c e p t m ay be
e n co d e d totally in th e linguistic fo rm o f th e h ost lan g u ag e ( ‘loan sh ift’ and
'lo a n tr a n s la tio n ’ ), to tally e n c o d e d in th e fo rm o f th e d o n o r la n g u a g e
( ‘loan w ord ’ ) , o r a m ix tu re o f b oth ( ‘loan b lend ).
T h e a rg u m e n t th at all su ch lexical tran sfers sh ould be re g a rd e d as th e

in co rp o ratio n o f ‘foreign e le m e n ts’ in th e Ja p a n e s e lan gu age rests heavily on
the borrow ing m etap h o r. In this view, words o r phrases, i.e. linguistic symbols,
a re little d iffe re n t fro m p hysical o b je c ts . T h o s e w ho tak e this ‘ lo an w o rd
a p p r o a c h ’ claim th at it is im p o ssib le to d e ta c h th e fo re ig n n e s s fro m th e
b orrow ed linguistic elem en ts. F o r ex a m p le , o rd e rin g a drin k on za rokku ( ‘on
th e ro ck s’ ) co n ju re s up n o tio n s o f suave, d e b o n a ir W estern m en in d in n e r
j a c k e ts , far-aw ay p la c e s , a n d s o o n , a n d it is th e s e p r o p e r ti e s o f b e in g
W estern a n d c h ic th a t ca u se d th e w ord to be b o rro w e d in th e first p la ce .
S im ilarly, th e p ro p o n e n ts o f su c h an a p p r o a c h a rg u e th a t even if su ch a
lexical item has a lo n g h istory in th e re cip ie n t la n g u a g e , th e re is still so m e
sym bolic b ag gage left over. T oday, a fte r n early fifteen h u n d re d years, so m e
c o m m e n t a to r s still c la im th a t C h in e s e lo a n s a n d C h in e s e r e a d in g s o f
c h a ra c te rs still so u n d n o ticeab ly d iffe re n t th an native Ja p a n e s e te rm s, an d
th a t th e ir e xce ssiv e u se s o u n d s o v erly e r u d ite , lite ra ry , o r p e d a n tic . T h e
b o tto m lin e o f this a rg u m e n t, th e n , is th a t it is im possible to in c o rp o ra te
E nglish e le m e n ts in to Ja p a n e s e w ithout also a c c e p tin g a sym bolic p ack ag e
with e a ch im p o rte d ite m , an d th a t, as n o te d ab o v e, E nglish lo an w o rd s a re
E nglish a n d th ey a re lo an w o rd s.
An altern ative view is that loan w ords a re n o t loanw ords at all, as n o th in g
is really b o rro w e d , an d n o th in g is given b ack. ‘ B o rro w in g ’, th e n , is less an
ad eq u ate descriptive term than a som ew hat vague m e ta p h o r used to d escrib e
th e co m p le x p a tte rn in g o f cu ltu ral an d linguistic co n ta c t. In this view, m any
Ja p a n e s e E n g lish lo a n w o rd s a r e m o r e a c c u r a te ly (if so m e w h a t clu m sily )
d escrib ed as ‘E nglish -in sp ired vo cab u lary item s'. H ere, th e arg u m en t is th at
the ‘d o n o r’ language, e.g. English, m ay m otivate o r inspire the local form ation
o f som e new p h on olog ical symbol o r a new co n ce p tu a l unit in Ja p a n e s e , but
this is sim ply n o t th e sa m e p ro ce ss as ‘b o rro w in g ’ an item from a fo reig n
lan g u ag e in to J a p a n e s e . As I h ave a rg u e d ab o v e, my b e lie f is th at a la rg e
p r o p o r ti o n (i f n o t th e m a jo rity ) o f J a p a n e s e E n g lish w o rd s a r e o f th e
in d ig e n o u s ‘ h o m e g ro w n ’ v ariety , d e sp ite a d e g r e e o f o v e rla p b etw een a
Ja p a n e se te rm an d a co rre sp o n d in g English item .
In su p p o rt o f this, o n e may cite specific item s. F o r e x a m p le , th e Ja p a n e se
E n glish e q u iv a len t to a ir-c o n d itio n e r is kuum ti ( o r ‘c o o l e r ’) w hich m ay be
u nfam iliar to users o f o th e r varieties o f English (cf. 'm e a t c o o le r’ in A m erican
E n glish ); an d th e w ord saubisu is used very differently than the US equivalent
item (in Ja p a n this typically glosses th e cu stom o f giving a re g u la r cu sto m e r
e x tra atten tio n o r ad dition al p ro d u cts ). E x a m p le s o f lo an blends in clu d e ita-
meshifor ‘Italian food ' ( meshiis ‘fo o d ’ ); lon-katsu for 'p ork cutlet' (to n is ‘p o rk ’ );
doobutsu bisuketto fo r ‘anim al biscuits' (doobustu is ‘a n im a l’); an d ita-choko for
c h o co la te b ar' ( ita is a ‘b o a rd ’). A g re at n u m b e r o f im p o rted n oun s may also
p air with Ja p a n e s e verb su ru ( ‘to d o ’ ) to co n stru ct in stant hybrid co m p o u n d s
(such as tmisu-suru, o r ‘to play te n n is '), a n d th e re is a te n d e n cy to ‘verbalize’
English n oun s. This o ccu rs in instances like rnakkit-ru, which co m b in es the Me

from ‘M cD o n ald ’s’ an d th e Jap an ese verbal en d in g -ni, re n d e rin g so m eth in g
‘M ac-ing’ fo r ‘g o in g to M cD on ald ’s’ (Yonekaw a, 1 9 9 9 ).
In th e Jap an ese-E n glish lan gu age c o n ta c t situation , both loan shifts an d
loan translations are relatively in frequent. Loan shifts, w here native word form s
b e c o m e ap p lied to b o rro w e d m e a n in g s o c c u r w hen th e m e a n in g o f so m e
native term b eco m es applied to a foreign (an d ‘new ’ ) c o n ce p t. F o r ex a m p le ,
u sin g ai ( ‘ lo v e’ o r ‘a ff e c tio n ’ ) as an e q u iv alen t to ‘ love’ in th e E n g lish 1
love y o u ’ d id n o t e n te r th e Jap an ese so cio lin g u istic re g iste r until re ce n tly .
L o an tran slation s, o r ‘ca iq u e s’ w ere fre q u e n t d u rin g the S eco n d W orld W ar
w hen th e g o v e rn m e n t w an ted to p u rg e th e Jap an ese la n g u a g e o f fo reig n
in flu e n c e s , a n d it was a t th is tim e w h en th e E n g lis h -in s p ire d su lo ra ik u
( ‘strik e ’ ) was re p la c e d by ii tama ippon (see C h a p te r 3 b elo w ).
A t this stag e o f th e d iscu ssion , two b ro a d p oin ts m ay b e m a d e . First, it
seem s c le a r th at th e re is on ly a p artial fit b etw een th e tra d itio n a l view o f
linguistic b orro w in g an d th e Ja p a n e s e situ ation . T h e m ean in g s o f Ja p a n e s e
English words a re not so m u ch borrow ed from ab ro ad as cre a te d , n eg o tiated ,
and recreated within Ja p a n e se society. Jap an ese English words and phrases are
often utilized fo r Jap an ese aim s an d p u rp oses, regardless o f th e ir m ean in g s
in th e d o n o r lan gu age. S eco n d , ra th e r than reg ard in g these as ‘loan w ords’, it
is m o re ap p ro p riate to co n sid e r th ese as ‘English-inspired vocabulary item s’.
T h e term ‘loanw ord’ seem s to imply a given fixed structure an d m ean in g which
corresp on d s to an e x a ct equivalent in the d o n o r language. T h e alternative view
o f these as English-inspired vocabulary item s op en s a perspective which creates
a s p a c e fo r th e c re a tiv e an d d y n am ic d im e n s io n s o f le x ica l c re a tio n (vs.
loanw ord acq u isition ) in this c o n te x t.
T h e sociolinguistic realities u n d erp in n in g th e acq uisition an d use o f this
type o f English suggest that m any o f these ‘b o rro w e d ’ words an d p h rases arc-
m o re accu rately reg ard ed as Ja p a n e s e term s, on a n u m b e r o f d ifferen t levels.
Many su ch item s re p re se n t th e feelings o f Ja p a n e s e speakers, an d thus serve
m o re to exp ress the realities o f co n te m p o rary Ja p a n e se cu ltu re than to im port
foreign cultural co n cep ts in to Ja p a n . Regardless o f die fears o f language purists
o n b oth sides o f the P acific, th e re is every in d ica tio n th at th e ja p a n e s e an d
English lan gu ages an d cu ltu res will c o m e in to in creasin g c o n ta c t in the years
ah ead . In this c o n te x t, lan gu age an d cu ltu ral ch a n g e ap p ears inevitable, an d
su ch p a tte rn s o f c h a n g e find lin g u istic e x p re s s io n in th e hybrid fo rm s o f
Ja p a n e s e E nglish th a t we have d iscu ssed in this c h a p te r.
T h e r e is stro n g evid en ce d ial English now has a p e rm a n e n t p lace in the
lin g u istic r e p e r t o ir e o f th e J a p a n e s e p e o p le . T h e th o u sa n d s o f E n g lish -
influenced vocabulary item s that have e n te re d th e ja p a n e se language have had
a co n te m p o ra ry in flu en ce sim ilar to th a t o f th e C hinese lan gu age in th e fifth
ce n tu ry . In e a r lie r e ra s o f J a p a n e s e h isto ry , m an y fo re ig n e le m e n ts w ere
rapidly in co rp o rated in Ja p a n e se life and custom s, an d b ecam e nativizecl within
The dynamics of English words in contemporary Japanese 37
Ja p a n e se cu ltu re. Today, th ere seem s to be a surprising lack o f tension between

th ese ‘fo r e ig n ’, i.e. E n g lish , linguistic item s, a n d th e in d ig e n o u s la n g u a g e
system , Ja p a n e s e . N ot least, p erh ap s, b e ca u se m any o f th ese linguistic item s
are cre a te d within Ja p a n an d within th e Ja p a n e se cultural an d linguistic m atrix.
As we shall soon see, J a p a n has h ad a lo n g an d rich tra d itio n o f linguistic
co n tact, an d this is reviewed in som e detail in C h a p te r 3 , which follows. B efore
p ro ce e d in g , how ever, th e r e a d e r is now invited to take th e follow ing test in
Ja p a n e se English, which is d esign ed fo r th e n o n ja p a n e s e sp eak er o f English.
Test in Ja p a n e se English: A quiz for non-Japanese speakers o f

English
P lease choose the letter which you feel gives the best definition, as used in Ja p a n , fo r
each English loanword given below
1. ron-pari ‘L o n d o n Paris’
a. a E u ro p e a n vacation
b. a fashion boutiq ue
c. b ein g cross-eyed
2. baikingu ‘Viking’
a. a N orse Viking
b. a m e n ’s aftershave
c. a sm o rgasb o rd
3. beteran ‘v e te ra n ’
a. a fo rm e r m e m b e r o f th e a rm e d forces
b. a retired co m p an y em p loyee
c. a professional o r ex p e rt
4. gettsuu ‘get two'

a. a tw o-for-one sale a t a d e p a rtm e n t sto re
b. an ad cam p aig n e n c o u ra g in g p eop le to buy two 2-litre bottles o f
S a p p o ro B ee r
c. a d ou b le play in baseball
5. daburu kyasuto ‘d ou b le ca st’

a. a special fly-fishing tech n iq u e
b. a special cast used to set b rok en bones
c. two p eop le assigned th e sam e ro le in a play
6. saabisu ‘serv ice’

a. having an au to m o b ile fixed
b. b ein g waited on at a re sta u ra n t
c. co m p lim en tary extras fo r cu stom ers
38 Japanese English: language and culture contact
7. roodo shoo ‘ro ad show ’

a. a travelling th eatre co m p an y
b. a circu s
c. first-run films show ing in large th eatres
8. stilt in redii ‘skin lady'

a. a strip tease artist
b. a fashion co n su ltan t
c. a w om an selling p rop h ylactics d o o r to d o o r
9. oorai ‘all rig h t’

a. b ein g ‘safe’ d u rin g a baseball play
b. O K ! em p h a tic a g re e m e n t
c. th e so u n d so m e o n e yells as h e /s h e helps gu id e a veh icle to back up
in to a parking sp ace
10. bebii kna ‘baby c a r ’

a. a co m p a c t au to m o b ile
b. a sp ecial car-seat fo r ch ild ren
c. a stroller
11. kurisumasu keeki ‘C h ristm as ca k e ’

a. a cak e given to em p loyees a t C hristm as tim e
b. a cak e e x c h a n g e d at C h ristm as w hen visiting relatives
c. a spin ster
12. konsento ‘co n s e n t’; ‘c o n c e n tr ic ’

a. to a g re e , d u rin g a n eg o tiatio n
b. th e fa th e r giving approval to a p rosp ective spouse
c. an e le ctric o u tlet
13. sayonara hoomu ran ‘Sayonara h o m e ru n ’

a. travelling quickly h o m e d u rin g vacation tim e
b. saying good b ye to drin k in g co m p a n io n s while leaving
c. a g am e-en d in g baseball h o m e run
14. baajin roodo ‘virgin ro a d ’

a. an uncharted trail
b. th e m ain stre e t in fro n t o f an all-girls high sch ool
c. th e ch u rc h aisle a b rid e walks down
15. sukuramburti ‘s c ra m b le ’
a. a kind o f breakfast, serving eggs and toast
b. a football scrim m ag e
c. an in tersectio n filled with p ed estrian s g o in g every which way
16. dorai ‘d ry ’
a. d ie co n d itio n o f b ein g non-w et
b. a co n d itio n d escrib ed in an ti-p ersp iran t co m m e rcia ls
c. a p erso n who is overly business-like, serious, o r u n sen tim en tal
17. u fllo ‘w et’

a. th e co n d itio n o f b ein g n on-dry
b. th e new, all-day, soft c o n ta c t lenses
c. a p erso n w ho is overly sen tim en tal
18. peepaadoraibaa 'p a p e r d riv er’

a. stap ler, o r p a p e r clip
b. a p erso n who delivers m o rn in g new spapers bytru ck
c. a p erso n w ho has th eir licen ce, but rarely actually drives
19. shirubaa shiilo ‘silver se a t’

a. A m erican-style stools fou n d in bars o r sh o rt-o rd e r restaurants
b. a rid e at th e new Tokyo Disneyland am u se m e n t park
c. seats on buses an d trains reserved fo r th e elderly
20. dokku ‘d o c k ’
a. p a rt o f a co u rtro o m
b. c o n n e ctin g th e S p ace S h u ttle with a satellite
c. a clinic
Bonus question :
2 1 . rimo kon ‘re m o te c o n tro l’

a. a p ie ce o f m ach in e ry c o n tro lle d from afar
b. a television se le cto r for use while seated
c. a h usb an d w ho goes straigh t h o m e a fte r work
Answers:
L ron-pnri ‘L o n d o n Paris'
c. b e in g cross-eyed
A p erson who looks tow ards Paris with his right eye an d tow ards L o n d o n
with his left is b o u n d to have eye p rob lem s. T h u s, a p erso n who is cro ss
eyed o r squints is som etim es said to be ron-pari.
2. baikingu ‘Viking’
c. a sm orgasb ord
Japanese English: Language and culture contact
A sm o rg asb ord is a S candinavian m eal, Vikings a re S candinavians, so an

all-you-can-eat is called a baikingu.
beteran ‘v e te ra n ’
c. a p rofessional o r e x p e rt
A professional p erso n is presum ably e x p e rie n ce d an d e x p e rt; thus he o r

she is d ub b ed a beteran.
gettsuu 'g e t tw o’
c. a d ou b le play in baseball
A d ou b le play gets two m en o u t at th e sam e tim e, so this is called gettsuu

in Japanese.
daburu kyasuto ‘d ou b le cast’

c. two p eo p le assigned th e sam e ro le in a play
A d o u b le cast is a situ a tio n w h e re two a c to rs a re given th e sam e ro le ,

p resum ably a p p earin g on d ifferen t d ates.
saabisu ‘se rv ice’

c. co m p lim en ta ry e x tra s fo r cu sto m ers
T h e term saabisu in Ja p a n e s e English refers to th e e x tra benefits given to

th e reg u lar cu sto m e rs o f a sh o p o r business.
roodo shoo ‘ro a d show'
c. first-run films show ing in large th eatres
T h e first-run sh ow in g o f a new film in Ja p a n is called a roodoo shoo, by

an alogy p erh ap s with plays in th e U n ite d S tates w hich a re o n th e ro ad
b efo re they arrive on Broadway.
sukin redii ‘skin lady’

c. a w om an selling p rop h ylactics d o o r to d o o r
W om en w ho sell co n d o m s (kondoomu) d oor-to-d oor a re called sukin rediisu.

T h e term p resu m ab ly c o m e s from th e b ran d n am es c o n d o m s a re often
given in Ja p a n (e .g . Wrinkle Skins, Skin I^ss Skins, e tc .) .
oorai 'all rig h t’

c. th e so u n d so m e o n e yells as h e /s h e helps gu id e a veh icle to b ack up
in to a p ark in g sp ace
A p e rso n h e lp in g a bus o r tru c k b ack up usually stan d s o ff to th e side

waving h is /h e r h an d s an d slowly says oorai, o o ra i, oorai until th e c o r r e c t
position is re a ch e d . H e /s h e th en raises h i s /h e r palm s an d yells sutoppu
( ‘s to p !’).
10. bebii kaa ‘baby c a r'

c. a stroller
A stro ller (A m erican E nglish ) o r p ram (B ritish E nglish ) is a bebii kaa.
11. kurisumasu keeki ‘C hristm as c a k e ’

c. a spinster
In Ja p a n it was traditionally believed that a w om an o ld e r than twenty-five

was to o old fo r m a rria g e . C h ristm as cak es g e t stale a fte r 2 5 D e c e m b e r,
h e n ce kurisumasu keeki to re fe r to an u n m arried w om an. H ow ever, today
th e average age fo r m arriage fo r Jap a n e se w om en is 2 7 .5 years, so this term
is less p o p u la r than previously.
12. konsento ‘c o n s e n t’; ‘c o n c e n tric ’

c. an e le ctric ou tlet
T h e ety m o lo g y o f this lo an w o rd is o b s c u re . S o m e J a p a n e s e lo a n w o rd
d ictio n a rie s say it c o m e s fro m ‘c o n c e n t r ic ’ , th e s h a p e o f ea rly e le c tric
outlets.
13. sayoonttra hoomu ran ‘Sayonara h o m e ru n ’

c. a g am e-en d in g baseball h o m e run
W hen so m eo n e hits a h o m e r in to th e stands in th e n in th in n in g, everyone

says ‘g o o d b y e’ ( sayonara) an d goes h o m e.
14. baajin roodo ‘virgin ro a d ’

c. th e ch u rc h aisle a b rid e walks down
A cco rd in g to traditional belief, when a Jap an ese bride walks down the aisle
she sh ould be d ressed in w h ite an d still be a \irgin.
15. sukuram buru

c. an in tersectio n filled with p ed estrian s go in g every’ which way
T h e full ex p re ssio n is sukuram buru koosaten o r ‘scra m b le d in te rs e c tio n ’

( koosaten m ean s ‘crossro ad s, in te rse ctio n ’ in Ja p a n e s e ). T his is even used
in official d o cu m en ts, an d a p p e a rs in q uestion s in w ritten driving tests.
16. (Urrai ‘d ry ’
c. a p erso n w ho is overly business-like, seriou s, o r u n sen tim en tal
A p erson w'ho is a cold fish, to o business-like, to o serio u s, o r to o distant,

is said to be dorai in Ja p a n e se . I low ever, this term an d th e n e x t now seem
to be d ecreasin g in popularity.
17. uetto'w et’

c. a p erso n who is overly sen tim en tal
42 Japanese English: Language anti culture conracr
T h e o p p o site o f N u m b e r 16 ab ove, o f co u rs e , is ‘w et’. T h is is s o m e o n e

who is to o sensitive, sen tim en tal, m elanch oly, o r teary-eyed.
18. peepaadoraibaa ‘p a p e r d riv er’

c. a p erso n who has th eir licen ce, but rarely actually drives
O w ning a c a r in Ja p a n can be q uite tro u b leso m e, especially in th e larg er

cities w here it is difficult to have a garag e o r find som ew here to park. T hu s,
m any p eop le, you ng w om en in particular, have a driver's licen ce but rarely
use it.
19. shirubaa shiito ‘silver s e a t’

c. seats o n buses an d trains reserv ed for th e elderly
‘Silver’ has b e co m e a m e ta p h o r fo r agin g in Ja p a n in th e last d e c a d e o r

so. M any seats, card s, passes, o r p ro g ram m es referrin g to the elderly, take
th e p refix shirubaa.
20. d ok k u ‘d o c k ’
c. a clinic
A sh ip g e ts d ry -d o c k e d ’ w h en u n d e rg o in g m a i n t e n a n c e ; h e n c e , by
an alogy, clin ics ca n also b e te rm e d dokku. F o r e x a m p le , a n in g m dokku,
o r ‘hum an d o ck ’ (ningen m eans ‘h um an b ein g’ in Ja p a n e s e ), is a co m p lete
an d th o ro u g h physical ex a m in a tio n given at th e hospital.
Bonus question:
1. rimo kon ‘re m o te co n tro l'

a. a p iece o f m ach in ery co n tro lle d from afar
b. a television se le cto r for use while seated
c. a husb an d w ho go es straigh t h o m e after work
All th re e answ ers a re c o rr e c t. A nsw er C is n o lo n g e r as p re v a le n t as it o n c e

was as m o re an d m o re Ja p a n e s e y o u n g m e n a re sp e n d in g tim e with th e ir
fam ilies a fte r w ork ra th e r than g o in g o u t to th e bars with th e ir co-w ork ers.
T hu s, retu rn in g h o m e early is no lo n g er quite the stigm a that it was a few years
ag o . T h e term rimo kon now is esp ecially used fo r th e d evice to c o n tro l th e
te le v isio n set fro m a c h a ir o r f lo o r , if th e tele v isio n is in a tr a d itio n a l
Ja p a n e se ro o m .
Sum m ary
In this c h a p te r, I have set o u t to establish a fram ew ork fo r th e discussion o f

Jap an ese English th at follows in su b seq u en t c h a p te rs .10 In p a rticu la r, I have
c o n s id e r e d th e o c c u r r e n c e a n d w id e s p re a d u se o f J a p a n e s e E n g lis h ,
particularly Ja p a n e se English lexical items, in everyday life in Ja p a n e se society.
In o rd e r to provide th e re a d e r with a b road u n d e rsta n d in g o f th e status and
fu n ction s o f Ja p a n e s e English as a linguistic re so u rce , I have also p resen ted a
n u m b er o f d etailed exam p les o f lan g u ag e use to illustrate th e ways in which
th e use o f English co n trib u tes to th e ‘beautiful h u m an life’ o f co n te m p o ra ry
Ja p a n , draw n from th e w orlds o f ad v ertisin g , p o p u la r m u sic an d th e sp orts
c o m m e n ta rie s. T h e o v e ra rch in g a rg u m e n t in this c h a p te r is th at trad ition al
a p p ro a c h e s to linguistic ‘b o rro w in g ’ a n d E nglish ‘lo a n w o rd s’ in J a p a n a re
insufficient to a cco u n t for the dynam ics o fJap an ese-E n g lish language co n ta ct,
an d th e varieties o f Ja p a n e s e English' that have o cc u rre d as th e result o f this
c o n ta ct. In th e final pages o f th e c h a p te r, re a d e rs a re invited to co m p le te a
Ja p a n e se English test, which illustrates in detail m any o f th e th eoretical issues
that have been discussed.

Chapter 2. The Dynamics of English Words in Contemporary Japanese

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Digitisation authorised by Martin Snelling

His d e m e a n o u r an d his Sony co m p an y pin in d icated th at h e was an execu tive

Table 2.1 Types and tokens o f Japanese newspaper vocabulary

urngo (native 53.9 36.7 20.4 16.3

Source: Kokuritsu Kokugo Kenkyuujo (Japanese National Language Research Institute)

H ow ever, n o t all loan s a re c re a te d e q u a l. As T ab le 2 .2 show s, th e vast

English 8.0 94.1

Newspapers Women’s Magazines

3. kiro kilogram * D 3. sekkus it sex * <7 7

12. nesuturan restaurant 1/X h5> 12. durama drama K7 V

Source: Inoue. Kvoko (1985).

L o an w o rd d ictio n a rie s o f all types an d sizes a re p o p u la r in J a p a n , with

Jap an ese English in daily life

E xp lain in g th e pervasiveness o f English loan w ords to th e casu al o b serv er o f

fo r m any d om estic dishes in certain restaurants. My third hypothesis was that

activities u n d e r d o c t o r ’s ad vice (e .g . Dokulaa sutoppu de k in ’m -ch u u nan da!

The dynamics o f English words in contemporary Japanese 17

gen erally is th e e d u c a tio n system . Tin- te a ch in g o f E nglish in Ja p a n is b oth

Jap an ese English as a linguistic resou rce

English ‘loan w ord s’ an d o th e r E nglish words in Jap an ese d o n o t simply add

S om e English loanw ords seem to reflect ch an g in g Ja p a n e s e altitu d es and

do with the decoration o f flowers, a decoration movement that was going on

ev er receiv ed , an d n o th in g is ever re tu rn e d . T h e lim itations o f this m e ta p h o r

In ad d itio n , it is significant th at o n ce English words a re b ro u g h t in to the

A rguab ly th e m o st n e u tra l te rm o f th e five is n u m b e r 3 , th e Ja p a n e s e -

b e c o m e re stric te d , e x p a n d e d , o r m o d ified in so m e way. 1 he q uestion that is

Jap an ese English and the ‘beautiful hum an life’

In every Ja p a n e s e city, an A m erican o r British visitor is im m ed iately struck by

A fte r ju st a few s e c o n d s ’ h e s ita tio n , sh e w alked in o r d e r to g e t a pa a m a

Figure 2.1 Kenzo beauty salon

th e available selections. T h e y w ere stan d in g in a m ach in e e m b lazo n ed with a

PUASE REMtMBER V W i V t t . ALWAYS

N o t lo n g a g o , in a c o ffe e sh o p in K yoto, I sat an d listen ed as th e ju k e b o x

nu m b er o f the symbolic functions o f English, and exam in in g how certain term s

T h e symbols and exhibitions o f Jap an ese English in public and

O n e o f th e im p o rta n t c o n trib u tio n s th at an th ro p o lo g ists have m ad e to th e

Figure 2.2 I feel Coke: Swayaka Teisuti Koka Korra

Itsumo machi ga I feel Coke!

Always the town feels 'I feel Coke'!

T h e imeeji (im ages) h e re a re aim ed at you ng p eo p le, d ep ictin g all th e fun to

In addition to th e level o f private an d public symbols just discussed, th ere

You are a dandelion.

Figure 2.3 Amateur rock and roil musicians in Yoyogi Park

fa te arranged fo r you to have

T h is so n g in th e o rig in a l is laced with th e lyricism th a t has m a d e Y u m in g

part o f the e n d u rin g history o f re co rd e d m usic. English words an d im ages are

Table 2.4 The relationships between symbols and exhibitions

Private exhibitions Public exhibitions

A lth o u gh it m ight a p p e a r th at o rd e rin g th ese cases in tab u lar fo rm is a

T h e intelligibility o f Jap an ese English

In Ja p a n tod ay th e re a re m any p e o p le w ho e x p re ss co n fu sio n at th e use o f

T his is n oticeably tru e in th e p o p m usic w orld, w here it is claim ed th at it

This p articu lar variety o f hip Ja p a n e se English is simply n ot accessible to m ost

Rout e wa yoru tobuto imu ga nai [Pan American Airlines]

kuuni minto Gtiamu [Japan Airlines]

Uesuto saizu \ulnoni [Keioo Department Stores]

W ord play an d pun s obviously play an im p o rta n t ro le in th e se e x a m p le s,

ca tch p h rases in English fro m TV co m m e rc ia ls , th e ir m e a n in g is co m p le te ly

T h e issue o f ‘loanw ords’ and Jap an ese English