![]() I once told The Michael Jackson Joke to a friend while standing at a traffic light in Nagoya and a stranger in front of us burst out laughing. You can even tell the question in English and the punchline in Japanese, as long as the person you're speaking to knows the Japanese word ao. You have to really commit to the punchline for this one. "What's Michael Jackson's favourite colour?" Trousers (or for you Americans who can seem to distinguish between underwear and trousers, I guess you’d call them pants). Maikeru Jakkuson no sukina iro wa nan desu ka. The most popular type are the 4-syllable words The examples on the intro slide are nice and basic: zabon. So with that in mind, here are my three favourite, brilliant, terrible Japanese jokes. They say explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog - you understand it better but the frog dies in the process. First of all, as you see, the title contains four old slang words: (trendy/new), (young people), (very funny), (a modified version of means song). I should've told him that one! Although he probably would have rolled his eyes at that too. Sitting in a smokey cafe after the interview I remembered The Michael Jackson Joke which is probably the best beginner-Japanese joke of all time. I sat there flustered for a while before mumbling something about a man walking into a bar. As chin in Japanese is ago, with the stress at the beginning of the a, instead of the beginning of the g.The worst job interview I ever had started with the interviewer asking me to tell him a joke. When people talk about something that happened a few years ago, some Japanese students laugh. It somewhat means that you want to have sex with a high school student. ![]() Don’t go up to a girl, say a joke and then say “JK.” In Japan, JK doesn’t mean “Just Kidding” it means “Jyoshi Koshi” a Japanese Female High school Student. ![]() I have found out the hard way that some American slang doesn’t mean the same as it does in Japan. Ewe Fuck You – Ii fuku (ii – nice, fuku – clothes) She is just saying that you have nice clothes. If some girl comes up to you and says “Ewe Fuck You” don’t judge her too roughly, she is young and foolish and he isn’t really saying anything back. Some love hotels with interesting names, but it is a guarantee that you will run across a hotel named “Shitte Hotel” in every town. In almost every city in Japan, there are hotels. Me “What kind of food do you like?” Student “I like lice.” I have to stay silent and not laugh because monkey is a racist term, but monkeys love to pick lice from other monkeys and eat them. I could write a book about the mispronunciations of the L and R sounds. Turns out that the word “Uncle” sounds like “Unnko” which is the Japanese word for poop. Family Members “mother, father, aunt, uncle” and the students start to laugh. They let you know when you say something funny and it’s sometimes embarrassing. “Ai shiteru” which means “I love you” instead of “Yes, I understand” – “Hai, shiteru” who knew. When I first came to Japan, people would ask me a question and when I responded, they heard. Sometimes it’s me that messes up the Japanese pronunciations. Psycho, it means best.” I had to explain to him that Saiko, the Japanese for best sounds like Psycho… a crazy person. Listening to my boss at a meeting with the new co-workers. “So, shave carrots, daikon (Japanese radish), and someone’s head.” This being in class, I had to look at her and ask, “Is that where the bad students go?” someone’s head – salmon’s head That’s right, everyone wants to identify with Japan right now. ![]() In the U.S., this word may well be confused with a refrigerator in a shop or store. My co-teacher was telling me how to make a local dish. Cooler - kura In Japan, the English air conditioner is referred to as cooler. She says to me, “I heard that you were a seedy player.” And here I had to stop and think… CD Player – seedy player Because some of the time, I hear something that they can’t be saying… Or I hope so. There are times that I have to step back and look at my friends when they speak English. I have lived in Japan for about 7 years now. ![]()
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