Saturday, February 18, 2012

おかしいもの

This post comes from a facebook friend who posted this picture and I said "WTF!"

いい - good

オッパイ - a women's breasts, usually referring to 'big breasts'

してる - a slang version of していますmostly used in casual conversation, when used with oppai means 'carrying'

ね - a sentence ending particle that emphasizes a point that usually is asking for confirmation, for example 寒いね!'Its cold, isn't it!

など - a particle used as 'etc.' or 'things like this'

と - particle used for 'and' or 'with'

下品な(げひん) - vulgar

言葉(ごとば) - word(s)

で - a particle with many uses this one being 'with'

ほめられる - to praise, compliment

と

眠っていた(ねむ) - sleeping in the past tense 'was sleeping'

メス - best translation of this word I can find is 'scalpel', although one translation used 'female' which would make more sense

の - possessive particle

本能(ほんのう) - instinct

が

目覚める(めざめる) - wake up

Roughly the translation may go like this;
"Nice rack!" etc. are vulgar compliments and the sleeping "female's" instinct is to wake up.

I can see how this can make sense now. I don't know where my friend found this but it wouldn't be a surprise if it was on a train or at the station where the Japanese love to warn people of the dangers of sexual harassment. Although from the picture the woman looks like she likes the attention and honestly thought this was an advertisement for a bra or something. Well, now we know.

じゃあ 以上です。

ジョシュア

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

公園で

This is a funny sign I saw at the park I take my preschool students to in the afternoon.

公園は (こうえん)- The park

犬 (いぬ)- Dog

ネコ- Cat

の- Possessive particle

トイレ- Toilet

では - Particle for 'At'

ありません- is not

Translation: The park is not a toilet for dogs and cats.

Down at the bottom in red:

That first word I can't read very well from the picture and can't remember, when I go back to the park I will update.

マナー - This is katakana for Manners

を - A linking particle 'noun to verb'

守って(まもって)- To protect or guard

飼いましょう(かいましょう)- Keep, in ~しょう form adds a meaning of 'Let's'

Translation: Let's keep and protect our manners.

This sign must be helpful because there is rarely any dog poo around. The Japanese are pretty good at cleaning up after their pets. Unfortunately, this park gets overcrowded with high school students in the evening who throw trash on the ground, break bottles and probably use it as a toilet. Young Japanese are not learning to be responsible for their behavior or respect for their environment. In Japan it is true that if you make a mess somebody will probably come along and clean it up. Young Japanese are becoming or have become ungrateful for this service and abuse it when ever possible. On the other hand, with Japan's lack of trash boxes in public places like in parks, on the street, and sometimes in the station it's hard to just blame the Japanese for being messy when you have nowhere to put your trash and of course I'm not going to carry it around with me, but rumor is they're the same way at home where mom's clean up everything, cooks dinner, does the laundry, etc. It makes sense why children never move out. This isn't just a Japanese problem it happens in America, England, Canada and other places. We've been raised as a generation of privilege, but now it feels as that hole of privilege we've been digging has gotten too deep and now we can't see the light. It's our own fault. We've made it too easy to be irresponsible with money, food, and trash. And now, our children have learned from us the art of privilege and demand more of it, especially in societies that are falling apart and can't support privilege anymore.

This is just an observation and of course doesn't apply to everyone. Please comment with your opinion about Kanji, Japan, Japanese, or whatever.

ジョシュア