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*Janken
The game of showing a "stone" (gû; ishi), "scissors" (choki; hasami) or "paper" (pâ; kami) with one's hand gesture. Very commonly used to decide roles among people. Stone prevails over scissors, scissors over paper, and paper over stone. The stone is a clenched fist, the scissors are the index and middle fingers stuck out of a clenched fist, and the paper is an open palm.

Japa-yuki san
Young women from South East Asian countries, most typically Filipinas and Thais, who came to Japan to work in the sex industry to make money and aid their family back home. Parody of the old word "Kara-yuki san", referring to Japanese women who went to work in the sex industry in South East Asia in the early modern age. [1983]

Jatô (Snakehead)
Generic term for Chinese underworld organizations that help Chinese nationals to go abroad clandestinely. Shetou in Mandarin Chinese. Other major criminal syndicates with foreign links operating in Japan as of the end of the 1990s include the Hong Kong mafia "Triad (San He Hui)", the Shanghai mafia "Liu Mang", Iranian drug smugglers, South Korean pickpockets, Chinese Fujian burglars, Taiwanese mafia and Russian mafia. [1994]

Ji-age (land-raising)
The act of driving out inhabitants with coercive manners and buying up the land for the sake of development enterprises. Rife during the economic bubble. [1986]

Jiban kamban kaban (footing, signboard and bag)
Proverb referring to requisite possessions for one to win an election and become a politician. Jiban means supporters in the constituency; kamban means that your name is well known; and kaban means money. [1949]

Jibetarian
Teenagers who, out of listlessness, sit on the ground in groups. Combination of jibeta (ground) and the ending of the English word "vegetarian". [1996]

Jichinsai
Shintô ritual, performed when a construction work is begun, to pacify the gaurdian spirit of the area.

Jidai geki (period drama)
TV drama or movie set in the feudal age and often dealing with warriors who help the needy and punish the greedy.

*Ji-Ji-Kô Renritsu (Ji-Ji-Kô coalition)
Coalition government that lasted from October 1999 to April 2000, formed by the LDP, the neo-conservative and hawkish Liberal Party and the religious Kômeitô. Characterized by right-leaning policies. Turned into a Ji-Kô-Ho renritsu when the main body of the Liberal Party walked away.

Jiko kaihatsu [keihatsu] seminâ (self-development [enlightenment] seminar)
Self-help seminars, using techniques of applied psychology and giving the participants a certain sort of moral catharsis, became popular among a certain part of the young population in the 1980s. Most seminars charge a participation fee of around 100,000-200,000 yen or so, and tend to be addictive. It is often regarded as something similar to new religions, and is said to derive from the New Age thinking. Life Space, one of such seminars, turned into a religious cult in the 1990s and made a big scandal in 1999 by pretending to be curing a sick old man until he got mummified. [1990]

*Jimintô (LDP)
Short for Jiyû Minshu Tô, or Liberal Democratic Party, the big conservative party which has ruled the government ever since its foundation in 1955, except for a short period in 1993-94. Composed of about five major factions. The LDP adopted an light-armament policy putting emphasis on economic prosperity, and took a typically pro-U.S. position. Its traditional supporter groups include farmers, self-employed workers and small and medium-sized enterprises. The long one-party rule inevitably led to heavy corruption and to the stiffening of the system of interest distribution, which became a serious problem since the 1970s.

Jingisukan (Genghis Khan)
Mutton barbecue, or Mongolian barbecue, invented in the 1920s in Hokkaidô, but became popular in the post-war era.

Ji-Sha-Sa Renritsu (Ji-Sha-Sa coalition)
Coalition government formed by the LDP, the Socialist Party (later, Social Democratic Party) and the small New Party Sakigake (1994-98) characterized by a liberal (not very rightist) tone.

Jiyû-Shugi Shikan (Liberalist View on History)
Right-wing revisionist view on modern Japanese history advocated by pedagogue Fujioka Nobukatsu (1943-). Supporters call the conventional view the "Masochistic View on History" (Jigyaku Shikan). [1995]

Jizô
One of Buddhist deities. The word usually refers to small statues, carved of stone, that are found by the roads, at a crossroad or in a Buddhist temple. Jizô statues usually wear a red bib, and are said to represent the spirit of dead children.

J League (pron. Jei Riigu)
Professional soccer league, started in 1993.

Joya no Kane (New Year's Eve Bell-Tolling)
In the night from December 31 (Ômisoka) to January 1 (Ganjitsu), bells in Buddhist temples are tolled 108 times, symbolizing 108 worldly desires in the Buddhist theory.

*J-pop (pron. Jei poppu)
Generic term for all sorts of Western-style pop music, including folk, singer-songwriters, rock, techno, idol and non-idol singers and so on. [Mid-1990s]

*JR (pron. Jei Âru)
Offspring of the former Japanese National Railways, privatised and divided by regions in 1987. The only railway network that covers the whole territory.

Jûbako
Lacquerware lunchboxes that can be piled one upon another.

J^ugun ianfu (comfort women)
Young women who were forcibly made sex slaves for the Japanese Military during World War Two. They included a large number of Koreans and Asians of other nationalities. As the issue came to be widely dealt with in the media, this became a large political and diplomatic issue in the 1990s. [1993]

Juken sensô (examination war); juken jigoku (examination hell)
In Japan, as in other new industrial nations of East Asia, the competition to get into privileged schools is very serious among middle-class families.

Jûgo-nen Sensô (Fifteen Years' War)
Some people call by this name the serial wars beginning with the Manchuria incident of 1931, through the Sino-Japanese War than began in 1937 and culminating in the Pacific War of 1941-45.

Juriana (Juliana)
Juliana Tokyo is the name of a celebrated disco that existed in Tôkyô from 1991 to 94. Inside, there was a stage called "O-Tachi-Dai" (standing platform), on which it is said that young women danced all but nude holding a fan in her hand, and that a lot of men watched them from beneath. [1993]

Juzu
Buddhist prayer beads.

K

*Kabuki
One of the traditional performing arts, resembling an opera. Around 1990, there was a small revival vogue for kabuki, but it did not visibly rejuvenate the audience of kabuki.

Kabu-Shiki Gaisha Kôbe (Kôbe Inc.)
Administration of Kôbe City which is too much preoccupied with land development and moneymaking. This nickname was given to the administration of the mayor Miyazaki Tatsuo (1911/12-2000, in office 1969-89) who introduced the management plan to shave off mountains and fill in the sea. The city hosted an exhibition "Port Pia" in 1981 and a Universiade games in 1985. In 1999, the construction of the Kôbe Airport was started, although there is the big Kansai Airport close by.

Kabuto-chô
Placename in Tôkyô's Chûô-ku. Byword for the Tôkyô stock market.

Kachô fûgetsu (flower, bird, wind and moon)
Idiom enumerating traditional themes of natural beauty in Japanese esthetics. There is another idiom, setsugetsuka (snow, moon and flower).

Kado-matsu
Pine branches placed by the gate as a New Year decoration.

*Kafunshô (pollen disease, hay fever)
Allergy caused by pollens, mainly of cryptomeria, from February to April every year. Causes problems such as nose mucus, stuffy nose, eye itch and sneezes. This became a major problem in the 1980s and 90s, and more than 10% of the Japanese are said to be subject to the pollen disease, but the real cause of the sudden increase of patients is not known.

Kagami mochi (mirror rice-cake)
Several rice cakes piled on top of each other in the order of the size, with a mandarin orange at the summit, prepared for the New Year. The rice cakes are cut and eaten on Kagami Biraki (Mirror Opening) day, January 11.

Kaguya-hime
A folk tale heroine, born out of a bamboo tree who goes back to her home on the Moon when she turns fifteen. The written version of this tale dates back to the 9th century.

Kaimyô (posthumous name)
Name consisting of about ten kanji, given to a deceased person in Japanese Buddhism. Usually, the kaimyô is sold by the parish priest. Some people buy their kaimyô while they are still alive.

Kaiseki
Highly stylized Japanese cuisine, usually out of the reach of ordinary folk.

Kaisha ningen (enterprise man)
Man who has nothing to live for except his company. Decreased in number in the 1990s.

Kaiten zushi (revolving sushi)
Small restaurants where sushi is served on a revolving counter. The first kaiten zushi outlet was opened by Mr Shiraishi Yoshiaki (1913/14-2001) in Higashi Ôsaka City in 1958, but their popularization owes most to Mr Egawa Kinshô (1922-2000), who opened the first shop of a chain store in Sendai in 1967. Kaiten zushi has now become an integral part of the Japanese restaurant scene, and the density of outlets now seems to have almost reached the saturation point.

Kakaku hakai (price destruction)
Dramatic fall in the price of goods and services, pioneered by discount outlets in the mid-1990s. The 1990's Japanese economy was characterized by a deflationary trend (for a short time around 1995, and continuously since around 1998), which had been known theoretically but had been fairly rare in reality. [1994]

Kakâ tenka to kara-kkaze (petticoat government and dry winter wind)
Proverbial local specialties of Gumma Prefecture. (A petticoat government is one in which women dominate.)

Kakushin jichitai (reformist municipality)
Municipalities headed by a mayor or governor backed by the Socialist and Communist Parties that multiplied in number during the 1970s when the rapid industrialization had caused serious environmental problems. Most of them turned conservative again in the 1980s. The trailblazer was Mr. Minobe Ryôkichi (1904-84), who was elected governor of Tôkyô Prefecture in 1967.

Kamaboko
Solid paste made of fish meat, in a semi-cylindrical shape. Eaten in slices.

Kami-dana
Shintô altar, typically in a private household.

Kamigata (Upper Side)
Kansai (the area of Kyôto and Ôsaka) as a cultural center, as opposed to Edo (present-day Tôkyô).

Kami-sama hotoke-sama (Dear God, Dear Buddha)
People turn to Shintô Gods and Buddhas for help and mercy when they are in trouble. The word hotoke (Buddha) is also used as metaphors for indulgent people such as teachers or bosses.

Kampô-yaku
Chinese medicine, still used in some occasions.

Kampyô
Grated dried gourd.

*Kanji (Chinese letters)
In Chinese, hanzi. Currently, 1,945 of them are designated kanji for common use (jôyô kanji; came into effect in 1981) and are taught at schools, but a larger number of kanji are in use in reality. There exist three different styles of kanji - the traditional ones are in use in South Korea and in Taiwan, while Japan and The People's Republic of China have simplified them in different ways after the war (kanji are no longer used in North Korea and Vietnam). The use of kanji was on the decrease before, but this tendency came to a halt when the word processor began to be used by a majority of the population in the latter half of the 1980s.

In Japanese, many kanji can be read in two different ways, one in the Chinese-derived pronunciation (on'yomi) and the other to represent a Japanese word (kun'yomi). Small hiragana are often printed beside kanji that are difficult to read, especially in books written for children, in which case those hiragana are called furi-gana or rubi.

Japanese can be written both horizontally (yoko-gaki) and vertically (tate-gaki) just like Chinese and Korean. Newspapers and most books are written vertically, but some books and most handwritten and typewritten documents are written horizontally. When written horizontally, letters are read from left to right, but in the pre-war period, they were often read from right to left, too.

Kanri kyôiku (control education)
School-management policy, adopted in many public high schools in the latter half of the 1980s in order to contain school violence, characterized by a strict application of dress codes and other regulations and sometimes by quasi-military exercises. Especially rife in Aichi Prefecture. This resonated with the general right-wing ambience under the Nakasone administration. [Mid-1980s]

*Kansai-ben; Ôsaka-ben
Kansai dialect, which is the second most influential dialect after Tôkyô-ben. Kansai-ben is typically used in manzai broadcast nationwide on TV, and is hence understood by most people since the manzai fad of around 1980. There are subtle regional differences within the Kansai district. Kansai-Kantô is the most conspicuous cultural divide in today's Japan. Ôsakans are thought to be less pretentious and more practical than Tôkyôites, and to be more fond of comic fun. (See also dosue)

Kapuseru hoteru (capsule hotel)
Minimalist hotels in urban areas where you are given a small capsule to sleep in. [1979]

*Karaoke
Juke box that plays pop songs without the main vocal part, so that you can sing to the accompaniment as if you had become the singer. Invented in Kansai in the early 1970s.

Karaoke boxes, or compartments rented by the hour where you can sing, were invented in 1984 and became widespread in large cities in 1992. They are popular among the youth, notably among young women. [1977]

Karê raisu (curry rice)
Very common and simple dish. It was modeled after British curry rather than hailing directly from India. Curry rice became a popular dish around 1930, and the popularity rose still further after instant curry roux was put on sale in 1950. Karê raisu is often eaten with fukujin-zuke (sort of pickles) or with rakkyô (shallot). Katsu karê (invented in 1918 in Tôkyô) is curry rice topped with meat cutlet. A far less common but similar dish is hayashi raisu (hash rice).

Karisuma biyôshi (charismatic beautician)
There is currently a media obsession for beauticians who purportedly possess a very high skill. There are other media obsessions with the so-called charismatic employees of clothes shops or charismatic readers of magazines. [1999]

Karôshi
Sudden death caused by overwork and mental stress, typically occurring to middle-aged men. [1988]

Karuchâ sentâ (culture center)
Facility giving adult education classes, that first made an appearance in the 1970s when the Asahi Culture Center opened in Tôkyô's Shinjuku district in 1974. Classes are said to be dominated by middle-aged women.

*Karuizawa
Summer resort town in southeastern Nagano Prefecture known as a prestigious enclave of rich people. In fact, many politicians, actors and writers have summer houses there. The main commercial district, with a certain Harajuku feel, gets very crowdy with youth in summer.

Kashiwa-de
Act of clapping hands in front of a Shintô altar.

*Kasumi-ga-seki
Placename in central Tôkyô's Chiyoda-ku. Ministry buildings are concentrated there.

Katagi (honest, trustworthy); Yakuza (suspicious)
Characteristics describing a person's professional lifestyle.

*Katakana
See hiragana

Kata-tataki (shoulder tapping)
Pressuring employees to take an early retirement. Sort of redundancy.

Katei-nai bôryoku (domestic violence)
Violence exerted by teenage children on their parents. Since the mid-1990s, this phrase also refers to violence exerted by the husband on his wife. [1980]

Ka-tori senkô
Mosquito-repellent incense, dark green and whirl-shaped.

Katsuo-bushi
Dried bonito, shaven and eaten in very thin strips.

*Kawaii (cute)
Cuteness is one of the key concepts in the Japanese mass culture: cute objects sell well, especially among women, either adolescent or grown-up.

Ka-ya
Mosquito net for the bedroom, referred to with nostalgia.

Kazunoko
Herring roe, expensive and typically eaten in the New Year.

Ken-dama
Traditional cup-and-ball toy.

Keikôtô (Fluorescent lamps)
Unlike in Western countries, fluorescent lamps are widely in use in private households in Japan, and rooms tend to be much lighter at night.

Keiretsu
Grouping of enterprises. This word came to be known in the West, as the keiretsu became a big target of criticism in the Japan-U.S. trade negotiations.

*Kêtai
Colloquial form for keitai denwa (cellular phone). Highly popular among the youth. In 1999, Ms Matsunaga Mari (1954-) invented the "i-mode" service, which allows access to the Internet from mobile phones, becoming an instant hit. (See also pokeberu) [1996]

*Ketsueki-gata uranai (blood-type fortune-telling)
Highly popular belief that your blood type determines your character. Type A is considered to be delicate, considerate and prone to worries; type O broad-minded and affable or obstinate and short-tempered; type B optimistic, ingenious and going-my-way; and type AB smart, detached and eccentric. As is the cuisine, Japanese popular fortune-telling is a dynamic melange of Western, Chinese and Japanese elements. Young people often tell their Western sign of their birthday and their blood type when they introduce themselves to other people. [1970s]

Kiku ningyô (chrysanthemum dolls)
Dolls sumptuously decorated with chrysanthemum flowers. Made and displayed as an attraction in festivals.

Kimigayo
A short tune composed in the early modern era (post 1868) which was officially designated the national anthem in 1999. The tune has been looked on with mixed feelings by many people, because of its connections with the pre-1945 totalitarian regime. The lyrics wish for the long reign of the Emperor.

*Kimono
Traditional Japanese clothes, especially formal ones worn by women, although the word is also used to mean simply "clothes". Today, worn on special occasions only. The fabric for making kimono is called gofuku.

Kimuchi (kimch'i in Korean)
Korean pickled vegetable, typically made of cabbage or radish. Entered the Japanese household around 1975 under the name of Chôsen-zuke (Korea pickles). [Around 1980]

Kimura Takuya (abbr. Kimutaku; 1972-)
Male idol singer and superstar of the latter half of the 1990s.

Kinako
Soy bean flour. Sprinkled over mochi or dango.

Kinken shoppu (kinken shop)
Discount ticket shop. You can buy book coupons at 97% the face value, telephone cards at about 85% (as of 2001) the real value, as well as cheaper cinema, Shinkansen or flight tickets.

Kin no tamago (golden eggs)
Male and female graduates of junior high or senior high schools, typically from northern provinces, who came to work in Tôkyô in large groups during the 1950s and 60s. Japan's economic development would have been impossible without their hard work.

Kin-san, Gin-san
Twin sisters, Narita Kin (1892-2000) and Kanie Gin (1892-2001), from Nagoya who became stars when they turned 100. Kin means gold and Gin means silver.

*Kintô Hô (Equal Opportunities Act)
Short for Danjo Koyô Kikai Kintô Hô, which came in to force in 1986, a turning point in the history of modern working women. Amplified in 1999.

Kintarô
A folk tale hero, usually pictured holding a battle-ax or straddling a bear.

*Kireru (snap off)
In the 1990s children's mentality changed and the general tendency is the lack of perseverance, lack of sociability, self-centeredness (jikochû) and inability to control one's own sentiments. Many children suddenly get angry or turn to violent acts for the slightest reason or even without any visible reason. Such a mental move is called "snap off" in children's slang. The sensation of vague queasiness that precedes "snapping off" is called mukatsuku (to feel offended/queasy). [1998]

Kitsune (fox)
See tanuki.

Kishimen
Noodles of a flat shape, a famous local specialty of Nagoya.

Kobayashi Yoshinori (1953-)
One of the highly popular children's manga cartoonists of the 1980s, who ruled the time with a novel style of social critique he started in 1992 in his serial manga "Gômanizumu Sengen (Manifesto of Arrogance)". He converted to right-wing political ideology soon after, causing much controversy, and now sides with the revisionist pedagogue Fujioka Nobukatsu.

Kobu-maki (tangle roll)
Herring rolled inside kombu (a type of seaweed), with kampyô tied around it. New Year's dish.

Kôdan
A vaudeville art of telling stories about battle heroes, revenges and so on. Fans are not very numerous these days.

Kôden
Cash offered by funeral participants to the bereaved family.

Kôden gaeshi (return for the kôden)
Gift sent to participants of a funeral service after the 49 days have passed. Common gifts include towels.

*Kôdo Seichô (High Economic Growth)
Dramatic economic boom of the 1960s which pushed Japan into one of the most developed industrial nations of the world. The classical household model, consisting of a husband working hard for a company and a wife staying home and doing housework, was established during this period.

Kôen debyû (park debut)
First appearance of a mother-and-child pair in the park of the neighborhood in housing-complex residential quarters. Housewives tend to make an exclusive band, and if you are unsuccessful in your park debut, you run the risk of being ostracized by other mothers of the neighborhood. [1995]

*Kogyaru
Generation of financially affluent teenage girls typically characterized by loose socks, brown hair (chapatsu), suntanned faces (ganguro), thin eyebrows, short skirts and spoiled sort of hedonistic values. (-gyaru derives from the English "gal".) [1993/94]

Kôhaku (Red and white)
The combination of red and white is the tone of celebratory occasions. Black is the color of mourning, and curtains with black-and-white stripes are seen at funerals.

Kôhaku Uta Gassen (Red-and-white Song Match)
NHK TV program broadcast in the evening on December 31 every year. This program, in which selected best singers of the year sing live on the stage, is watched by about half the population. In 1999, the audience rating in the Kantô district was 45.8% during the first half of the programme and 50.8% in the second half. That in the Kansai district was 48.5% and 55.5% respectively. Until the 1970s, the audience rating was usually in the seventies. The Kôhaku runs both pop and enka, because it has to be watched by all family members, including the elderly.

Koi nobori (carp streamers), or Shôbu no Sekku (Sweet Flag Festival)
Streamers in the shape of a carp which are supposed to be hoisted on poles on May 5, the festival for boys (Tango no Sekku) of Chinese origin. There is also a habit of eating chimaki (rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves) and kashiwa mochi (rice cake with an inside wrapped in an oak leaf) on the boys' festival day.

Kokeshi
Cylinder-shaped wooden doll.

Kôkin (anti-viral)
Since around 1991 the Japanese consumers have been excessively obsessed with cleanliness. In this context, anti-viral goods have become fashionable in the mid-1990s. [1995]

Kôkô yakyû (Senior High School Baseball)
All-Japan baseball championship tournaments held in spring, sponsored by the newspaper Mainichi Shimbun (since 1924), and in summer, sponsored by Asahi Shimbun (since 1915). In the spring championship, participants (basically one from each prefecture) are selected by a committee, but in the summer championship all schools undergo a prefectural tournament before being allowed to participate in the national-level tournament. Both the spring and summer tournaments are played at the Kôshien stadium in Nishinomiya City, Hyôgo Prefecture. Very popular among the population, and relayed live on TV and on radio.

Koma (spinning top)
One of the traditional toys, spun typically in the New Year.

Komadamu
Financially affluent young housewives who dress up in designer goods. (-madamu derives from the French madame.) Pairs with kogyaru. [1996]

*Kombini (convenience store)
American-style convenience stores, which first made appearance in Tokyo in 1974 and rapidly grew in number subsequently. They have now become an indispensable part of the Japanese life, being open from early in the morning to late at night. Some even open around the clock, though they sometimes fall victim to burglary. They are especially useful for the youth, the unmarried, and the aged. In the latter half of the 1990s, the density of kombini seems to have reached saturation point. You can even pay public utility bills at a kombini. Major chains include Seven Eleven, Family Mart, Lawson, Sunkus, and a.m. p.m.

Kômeitô (Kômei Party)
Political party linked with the new religion Sôka Gakkai. The latter was derived from the teachings of the Buddhist thinker Nichiren. It was founded in 1930 and dramatically grew in power during the rapid urbanization of the society in the 1950s and 60s. The Kômei Party was founded in 1964.

Komuro Tetsuya (1958-)
Musical producer who has been ruling over a surprisingly large portion of the J-pop scene throughout the 1990s.

Kônai bôryoku (school violence)
In the 1970s, violent acts of high school students against teachers and fellow students, as well as vandalism on school property. Became serious in 1980. [1980]

Kona-mon (flour food)
Pancakes such as o-konomi-yaki or tako-yaki, local specialty of Ôsaka.

Konnyaku
Purple-looking paste made from the root of a plant.

Korokke (croquette)
Mashed potato ball, coated and deep-fried in brown. Comes with or without meat, sometimes with vegetables or with seafood. [1917]

Ko-Shôgatsu (Small New Year)
January 15, when women, who are kept busy with housework during the New Year, are traditionally supposed to take a rest.

Kosupure (costume play)
The act of being dressed like characters appearing in anime or manga (cartoons). [1990s]

*Kotatsu
Low table with an electric heater inside and covered with a blanket. Placed in the living room, typically in front of the television set, during the winter. The portable electric heater to warm the feet while sleeping is also called kotatsu.

Koto
A traditional string instrument, laid on the floor when played, with thirteen strings. Not practiced by many people nowadays. Recorded koto music is often played on the speaker in the New Year, in Japanese gardens and in Japanese-style restaurants.

Kui-daore (overeating to become bankrupt)
Obsession of Ôsakans with eating. Pretentious Kyôtoites are said to be ki-daore (overdressed to become bankrupt).

Kuppa
Rice topped with meat and vegetables and soaked in soup. From the Korean, kuk-bbap.

Kurisumasu (Christmas)
Although a very small portion of the Japanese population is Christian, the habit of holding a party on Christmas Eve is widely observed. For young people, Christmas Eve is the day of lovers, and going out and dining together on Christmas Eve means that they consider themselves as a couple. In the popular imagination, the day is even associated with the act of lovemaking. Those who do not have a partner to go out with often get together and hold a party, either in a mixed or exclusively feminine company.

Kushi-katsu, Kushi-age
Called kushi-katsu in Ôsaka and kushi-age in Tôkyô. Meat, fish or vegetables stuck in a skewer and deep-fried, eaten soaked in sôsu. Already existed in the 1910s.

Kyapi-kyapi
Adjective for cheerful and frivolous young women. [1984]

Kyatchi sêrusu (catch sales)
The "catch sales" fraud became a big social problem in the 1980s. In busy commercial quarters young agents, posing as pollsters, talked to credulous college students and asked them to answer a public opinion poll. Then they talked the victim into coming to join them in a café or in their sales office, where they surrounded the victim in a large number and forced him/her to sign a purchase contract (eg. cosmetics and esthetic goods) with importunate and coercive manners. Catch sales are not so rife these days. [1980s]

Kyôgen
Comical skit played during the interlude in a nô performance. Mr Izumi Motoya (1974-), young prince of the kyôgen world, has become a popular figure, along with Mr Ichikawa Somegorô (1973-) of kabuki and Mr Tôgi Hideki (1959-) of gagaku.

Kyôiku mama (education mom)
Mothers who are obsessed with getting their children into prestigious schools.

Kyôkasho Mondai (Textbook Problem)
In 1982, South Korea and China angrily reacted when it was reported that the Japanese education authorities had altered the expression "invasion" (of Japan into northern China) to "advance" in school textbooks on history, making it a major diplomatic problem.

Kyô no ochazuke
Kyôtoites are reputed to have typically developed formalities of politeness and, in the popular stereotype, are said to show an exclusionary attitude toward outsiders. As this popular saying goes, when you are invited to somebody's home in Kyôto, just as you are about to leave you will be asked if you would like to stay longer because a bowl of ochazuke (rice soaked in hot tea) is almost ready for you. However, you should never want to stay longer, because it is understood that this bowl of ochazuke is just a pretext and does not exist.

Kyû-kana (old orthography)
The old Japanese orthography used for writing hiragana and katakana (as opposed to kanji) that was in used until 1946. The discrepancy between the script and the actual pronunciation was fairly large. The traditional form of kanji is called kyû-jitai.

Kyûreki (old calendar)
Lunar calendar which was used until the modernist revolution (1868). Nowadays, few people continue to refer to kyûreki, unlike in other East Asian countries.

M

Mâbo dôfu
Chinese dish with tôfu and minced meat in thick caramel. From the Chinese, mapo doufu.

Mado-giwa zoku (windowside tribe)
Redundant or incompetent employees deprived of any work to do all day long. [1978]

Mago no te (grandchild's hand)
Back scratcher made of wood.

Mâjan (Mah-jong)
A game of Chinese origin, using a set of tiles and played by four people. Played predominantly by adult men who often bet money.

Maneki neko (inviting cat)
Doll cat often placed at the entrance of a shop, standing upright and raising one paw as if calling in customers and profits.

*Manga
Comics, cartoons. Though it has a long history, Tezuka Osamu (1928-89) is said to be the father of manga as it is now. Highly sophisticated as an art, and now said to deal with a vast domain of the human mind that has long been abandoned by literature. The monthly manga magazine Garo (1962-97, 2000-) once ruled the time as a trailblazer of subculture around 1970, producing such unique talents as Tsuge Yoshiharu (1937-) and Shirato Sampei (1932-). People older than the Dankai generation often show aversion to manga. Somehow it seems that the manga culture has peaked in the 1990s.
Manga, making the same progress in just about 30 years which modern literature took a century to do, deepened in quality, diversified in styles and expanded in readership around the time of the Students' Rebellion. Kajiwara Ikki (1935/36-87) is one of the leading authors of Gekiga, novel-like story manga that came to flourish at around the same period. Sexual expressions came to the fore of the manga scene between the early 1970s and the 1980s.
Girls' manga (shôjo manga) established itself as a unique genre in the 1970s and is worth noting. Ladies' comics (abbr. redikomi) is a distinct genre which boomed in the second half of the 1980s but known to all but a minor part of the society, which is said to deal openly with the subject of love and sex.
Manga (as well as other popular forms of pop culture that were formerly considered as vulgar) got full recognition of Japanese intellectuals as culture only in the 1990s.

Manga kissa (manga café)
Café where you can read as many manga as you like for a charge of about 500 yen per hour. Dramatically increased in number around 1997. Many manga cafés now offer Internet access, too.

Manjû
Traditional sweet cake with anko inside.

Manshon (mansion)
Relatively upmarket apartment house or condominium. Usually has a name combining a Western (English, French, Spanish, Italian or German) word with the name of the place. Since man means 10,000, mansions which cost more than 100,000,000 (1 oku) yen are often called oku-shon. [1964]

*Manzai
Comic dialogue, highly popular currently. A somewhat low-brow vaudeville art performed by two storytellers, which became very popular in 1980, especially in Ôsaka. (See also Yoshimoto Kôgyô, boke and tsukkomi.)

Maruchi shôhô (multi trade); Nezumi kô (mice-type mutual aid)
"Pyramid selling" frauds. First became a social problem in 1974/75, and a second wave came around 1985.

Maru-no-uchi
Placename in Tôkyô's Chiyoda-ku, on the western side of the JR Tôkyô station. Headquarters of many big enterprises are concentrated there.

Matagi
Traditional hunting communities, with a unique lifestyle and unique rituals, that existed until the 20C in mountainous areas of the Tôhoku District.

Matsumoto sarin jiken (Matsumoto Sarin incident)
On June 27, 1994, poisonous Sarin gas was diffused in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, killing seven people and poisoning more than 200. Mr. Kôno Yoshiyuki, 44, who lived nearby and whose wife became unable to speak or move forever, was erroneously suspected by the police at first, and was subsequently treated as the culprit by all the major news media. Soon after the 1995 subway attack in Tôkyô, the new religion Aum Shinrikyô was identified as the true culprit.

*Mazakon (Mother complex)
Excessive moral attachment to the mother that continues into adulthood, and the tendency to expect motherly affection from women in general, a mentality typically observed in men. It seems that the mazakon mentality is much more commonly observed in Japanese men than in Western men. Women avoid mazakon men as potential husbands. [Early 1980s]

Meiyo Hakujin (Honorary Whites)
In the apartheid-era South Africa, the Japanese were called by this name by the ruling, white South Africans and were treated as whites.

Mentaiko
Pollack roe cured in salt and red pepper. Famous local specialty of Hakata (Fukuoka), Kyûshû.

Meshi furo neru (supper, bath, go to bed)
Typical words said by a salaryman to his wife after he comes back home from work late at night. Many men used to be taciturn, blunt, inconsiderate and selfish in front of their wives.

Mimi-kaki
Ear-picking tool, made of wood or metal.

Minamata Byô (Minamata Disease)
Serious organic mercury poisoning that struck the neighborhood of Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture, in the 1950s. The damage expanded because the state first sided with the industry and neglected to take necessary measures to stop the discharge of mercury into the sea. One of the Four Major Pollution Diseases (Yondai Kôgai Byô) of the 1950s and 60s, the others being Yokkaichi asthma in Mie Prefecture, Agano River mercury poisoning in Niigata Prefecture and the Itai Itai disease in Toyama Prefecture.

Minshuku
Inn operated in a private house.

Min'yô (folk songs)
Traditional folk songs from various regions of Japan. Practised and liked principally by elderly people and in the countryside rather than in big cities.

Mirin
Sweet saké used as a seasoning.

*Miso
Fermented bean paste. There are variations such as aka miso (red miso) and shiro miso (white miso).

*Miso-shiru (Miso soup)
An indispensable ingredient of the Japanese-style meal. The generic term for thin soup is o-tsuyu, and miso-less thin soup is called o-sumashi.

Misshon sukûru (mission school)
Private schools founded and run by Christian missionaries or organizations. Fairly numerous among prestigious schools.

Misukon (Miss contest)
Beauty contest, acutely criticized by the feminist movement in the 1980s.

Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645)
Legendary master of the swordsmanship, who enjoys national popularity through novels and movies. The duel of Ganryû Island is one of his best-known episodes.

Miyazawa Kenji (1896-1933)
Poet and writer of children's stories from the Tôhoku District, who has been enchanting many people for his unique personality and sensibility.

Miya-zukae (court service)
Word seen in the feminine aristocratic literature of the 11C. Humorous way of describing working for a private enterprise (especially for women). [1980s]

Mizu-go kuyô
Memorial service for aborted children, held at Buddhist temples. Began in the 1970s. Propagated to South Korea in the late 1980s.

Mochi
Rice cake that is much bigger than a dango. Often eaten grilled or in a soup.

"Môkari-makka?"; "Bochi-bochi denna." ("How are you making money?" "So-so.")
Stereotypical greeting purportedly used by the people of Ôsaka, a city of merchants. In standard tongue, these translate as Môkari-masu ka? Bochi-bochi desu na.

Mokugyo (wooden fish)
Wooden drum beaten by a Buddhist priest reciting a sutra.

Momotarô
A folk tale hero, born of a peach (momo) floating down the river, who sets out with a retinue of animals to subdue an ogre living on an island.

Monaka
Traditional sweet cake, resembling wafers, with anko inside.

Môretsu shain (ferocious employee)
Salaryman who puts all his energy in working hard for his company. [1965]

*Mura hachi-bu (eight-in-ten ostracism)
Excommunicating a person or a family who does not conform to the collective code in a rural community. Communication was allowed in two special cases of fire and funerals only.

Mura okoshi (village revitalization)
Japanese countryside is ailing from the depopulation (kaso) due to the drainage of the young population. Various efforts to revitalize the community by attracting industry or tourists are seen all over the nation. One form of such movement is the isson ippin undô (one village, one article movement), a movement to promote the sales of one specific product as a local speciality. [1984]

Mu-tôha sô (non-sectarians)
Those who do not support any political party. Increased in number during the 1990s, and now constitutes about half the population. In 1995, they gave birth to the two comedian governors in the two biggest metropolitan areas, Aoshima Yukio (1932-) in Tôkyô and Yokoyama Nokku (1932-) in Ôsaka. [1995]

Myôga
One of herbs used in Japanese cooking.

N

Nagara-zoku ("while" tribe)
Those (especially the youth) who study or read while listening to music or watching TV. [1958]

*Nagata-chô
Place name in central Tôkyô's Chiyoda-ku. The Diet Building is located there.

Naichi (Mainland)
Originally a term used by colony residents to refer to the Mainland. Hokkaidô people often use this term to refer to the rest of Japanese mainland.

Nakai
Waitress in a traditional Japanese-style restaurant.

Nampa
Picking up of women by men. Women picking up men is called gyaku nampa (inverse nampa).

Namuamidabutsu [Namo-], Nammaidabu
Prayer word (nembutsu) in the Jôdo sect of Buddhism, the largest in the Japanese Buddhism.

Nana-kusa gayu (seven-herb porridge)
On January 7, there is a traditional habit of eating rice porridge cooked with seven herbs.

*Naoki Shô (Naoki Prize)
(See Akutagawa Shô)

Narita rikon (Narita divorce)
Behavior of some unpersevering young couples who wish to divorce as soon as they come back to Narita airport after a short honeymoon spent abroad. [1990]

Narita Tôsô (Narita Battle)
When the authorities abruptly and one-sidedly decided in 1966 to construct a new Tôkyô airport on the farmlands of Narita in Chiba Prefecture, local farmers protested in great anger. Soon, Narita became a symbolic battlefield for New Left radicals, and young members recruited in colleges got to gather in Narita to clash with the riot police. The situation lasted for about 30 years.

Nata de koko (nata de coco)
Philippine dessert which became the target of public obsession soon after the tiramisu fad in the early 1990s. [1993]

Natane zuyu (rapeseed tsuyu)
A small rainy season during late March and early April at the latitude of Tôkyô and Ôsaka. Brought about by a front zone separating the air mass of winter and that of spring. The small rainy season in November, symmetrical to this, is called sazanka zuyu after a type of shrub (sasanqua) blossoming at this time.

*Nattô
Fermented soy beans, often eaten with mustard and leek. More often eaten in the East than in the West.

Ne-aka (light-minded); Ne-kura (dark-minded)
In the 1980s and 90s, seriousness and gloominess became a target for dislike and contempt among the youth. The word kurai (dark) was used as a negative adjective for people's character until the prolonged economic recession altered the trend in the late 1990s. On the contrary, outwardly cheerful types got to be liked, even if they were somewhat frivolous and empty. [1982]

Negi
Leek. Thicker negi is used in Kantô, while Kansai negi is much thinner (called bannô negi in Kantô).

Nenga-jô (New Year's cards)
Special cards of the post office sold since 1948, which roughly correspond to Christmas cards in Western society. The cards are delivered to the addressee on January 1, regardless of the date on which they were posted. You are not supposed to send nenga-jô if any of your family members or close relatives died during the previous year (mochû = in mourning), and it is not polite to send nenga-jô to other families in mourning. The post office's nenga-jô carries a six-digit number, which functions as a lottery.

Nettai-ya (Tropical night)
Refers to summer nights when the minimum temperature exceeds 25 deg C. Due to the urbanization, minimum temperatures in big cities such as Tôkyô and Ôsaka are constantly rising, and 27 or 28 deg C in summer is not uncommon. Because of high humidity, summer nights in Japan are especially hard to bear.

NHK (pron. Enu Eichi Kei)
State-owned TV and radio station founded in 1926.

Nihai-zu (twofold vinegar)
Mixture of soy sauce and vinegar.

Nijû-shi sekki (24 seasonal divides)
The Chinese tradition has 24 names for seasonal divides that are placed at equal intervals on the calendar, including the two equinoxes and two solstices.

Nihon-kai gawa (the Japan Sea side)
See Taihei-yô gawa.

Nihon Sankei (The Three Sights of Japan)
Matsushima in Miyagi Prefecture, Miyajima in Hiroshima Prefecture, and Ama-no-Hashidate in Kyôto Prefecture.

*Nihon-shiki keiei (Japanese-style management)
Business practices typical to Japan, as opposed to Western civilized nations. The Japanese-style management, which enabled one of the most remarkable economic success stories of the post-war world, was often heard adored in the West in the 1980s before the Japanese economy began to fail with the collapse of the Bubble Economy.

Nihon-shu
Japanese rice wine, called "saké" in Western languages. In Japanese, sake refers to any sort of alcoholic beverage.

Ninja
Secrets agent in feudal times, trained in the arts of stealth (ninjutsu).

*Ninjô (human feelings)
(See giri)

*Nippon Kabushiki Gaisha (Japan Inc.)
The system of Japanese commerce and industry, where the government and enterprises virtually cooperated for a higher competitivity in the world market. The careful state protection of the industry has often been compared to the socialist system. [1971] (See also Gosô sendan hôshiki)

Nira
Spicy leek, typically used in the Chinese-style cooking. Not everybody likes the odour of nira.

Niraikanai
Shangri-La in Okinawan mythology.

*Nô
One of traditional performing arts, highly stylized and slow in motion. The lead role, called waki, pairs with a supporting role called shite. The accompanying song is called yôkyoku.

*Nomiya
(See izakaya)

Nomu, utsu, kau (drink, bet and buy)
Typical evil acts of men. Bet refers to gambling, and buy refers to buying prostitutes.

Noren
Short split curtain hung at the entrance of a shop or at a boundary of two different spaces.

*Nori
Dried laver (seaweed) sheet. Most typically eaten with rice, in sushi or with vegetables.

Nosutoradamusu no Dai Yogen (Nostradamus' Great Prophecy)
In 1973, hack writer Gotô Ben (1929-) published a book under this title, replete with mistaken statements and contorted interpretations, which sold 2.5 million copies. In the book he asserted that mankind was going to die out in July 1999. Many people had their minds more or less influenced by his message, amplified by the general uneasiness about the deteriorating environment and the fear of a U.S.-Soviet nuclear war.

NTT (pron. Enu Tii Tii)
Formerly state-affiliated telephone company, privatized in 1985.

Nure ochiba (damp fallen leaf)
Man retired from his enterprise who does not know what to do and sticks around his wife all the time. [1988]

*Nyû Myûjikku (New Music)
Generic term for new trends in the pop music scene that appeared in the 1970s, including folk and singer-songwriters (shingâ songu raitâ). The phrase was replaced by J-pop in the mid-1990s. [Mid-1970s]

O

*Obasan
Originally meaning "aunt" or "adult woman in general", this word can have a somewhat contemptuous nuance when used to refer to a middle-aged woman. Its Kansai-ben form is obahan.

Obatarian
Middle-aged woman characterized by brazen and impudent manners. Neologism coined by manga cartoonist Hotta Katsuhiko (1951/52-). Derived from obasan. [1988/89]

O-bon
Buddhism-derived festival on August 15, when the souls of the dead are considered to come back temporarily to their former homes. People usually take a short vacation around this time and go to see their parents in the countryside. Depending on the region, the practice of floating paper lanterns down the river in order to see off the souls of the dead (tôrô nagashi, shôryô nagashi) is observed.

O-chûgen
Summertime gift given in July, notably by salarymen to their bosses and company owners to their clients. Forma a pair with O-seibo.

Oden
Stew of radish, tôfu, fish paste, konnyaku, eggs etc. Eaten with mustard.

O-hagi
Rice cake covered with an or kinako. One of the traditional sweets.

O-Higan (Equinoxes)
Both the Spring Equinox (Shumbun) and the Autumn Equinox (Shûbun) are national holidays. People used to visit their ancestral graves on these occasions. O-hagi and bota-mochi (both mean rice cake covered with an) are eaten at the equinox.

O-hitashi
Boiled spinach or other sorts of greens, sprinkled with katsuo-bushi and soy sauce.

O-kaki
Dried and toasted pieces of salty rice cakes. Names for similar cakes include arare (in small pieces) and sembei (flat and round).

Okaruto bûmu (occultism fad)
Occultism has been widespread among teenagers since the 1970s, as in many Western countries. [1974]

O-konomi-yaki ("as-you-like grill")
Pancake grilled on an iron plate, containing meat and vegetables. Often associated with Ôsaka and Hiroshima. Eaten with sôsu. Took the present style in around 1930 and became popular in around 1950. Monja yaki is a local specialty of Tôkyô, resembling o-konomi-yaki but much more watery, which became popular in the post-war period in the working-class district in the eastern part of the city.

*OL (pron. ôeru)
Female salaried worker in the private sector. Short for "office lady". [1963]

*O-miai (arranged dating)
Today most young couples marry of their own will, but it is still not uncommon that they see potential spouses in dates arranged by their parents or other older people. However, in most cases, only the first date is arranged, and it is left to the couple's own will if they continue to date each other or not. According to a census by a national research institute, the share of arranged marriages among all marriages fell to 9.6% in the period of 1993-97.

O-mi-kuji
Lottery for fortune-telling sold in Shintô shrines.

O-nigiri
Rice ball, often covered with nori. Also called o-musubi.

Orikon (Oricon)
Most prestigious ranking media for Japanese pop music, founded in 1967. Short for Original Confidence. Equivalent to America's Billboard.

Ori-gami
Paper-folding art. Almost everyone knows how to make a crane (tsuru).

Oroshi shôga
Grated ginger. Eaten, for example, with tôfu or with tempura.

O-sechi ryôri
New Year's celebratory dishes. Typical elements include black soybeans (kuro-mame), herring roe (kazu-no-ko), small dried sardines (gomame) and burdock (gobô).

O-seibo
Year-end gift given in December. Forms a pair with O-chûgen.

*Otaku
Crackpot, mania or freak. A tendency typically found in young men characterized by introversion, lack of sociability and a maniac attachment to a certain genre of hobby, like computers, occultism, science or manga. This word, which had originally been used within a small community, suddenly became known to the whole society when a young man, who fell into this category, was arrested for a serial murder of four little girls in 1989. Otaku is one of the honorific pronouns meaning "you", and maniac people got to be so called because they tended to call each other by this word. [1989]

O-toshi-dama
New Year's gift, usually in cash, given to children. According to a Daiichi Kangyô Bank survey, schoolchildren in the 4th, 5th and 6th grades in Tôkyô Prefecture received, in 2000, an average amount of 25,107 yen in New Year's allowances from an average of 6.3 people.

O-tsubone-sama
Word seen in the feminine aristocratic literature of the 11C. Senior female employee in a private enterprise who behaves as a matron and watches over the behaviour of younger colleagues. [1989]

*Oyaji
Originally meaning "Dad", this word is used to refer to a middle-aged man in a somewhat contemptuous way. Its Kansai-ben equivalent is ossan, a corruption of ojisan (uncle). [Latter half of 1980s]

Oyaji gyaru (Oyaji gal)
Young women with hobbies that had traditionally been considered exclusively masculine, like karaoke, sports newspapers, golf, horse racing, bicycle racing or drinking in bars. [1989/90]

Oyaji-gari (oyaji hunting)
Since the mid-1990s some delinquent teenagers, boys and girls alike, began to attack adult men to rob them of money or to tease them just for fun. There have even been several cases of killing. [1996]

Oyaji gyagu (oyaji pun)
Pun said by a middle-aged man, usually of a boring type, to attract the attention of young, often female colleagues. [1990s]

Oyakata Hinomaru ("the boss is the Rising Sun flag")
Loose and irresponsible attitude toward management and client service typically observed in public offices and quangos.

Ozaki Yutaka (1965-92)
Legendary rock singer-songwriter who had a charismatic grip on the minds of the late-1980s youth who were suffering under a suffocating educational regime (see kanri kyôiku). His drug-related arrest in 1987 and his early death in 1992 sent shock waves throughout the nation.

Ozawa Ichirô (1942-)
Current head of the neo-liberalist and hawkish Liberal Party (Jiyûtô). Ever since he left the Liberal Democratic Party in 1993, he has always been making news in the political scene. He is one of the few politicians who emphasize political discourse and ideas, but he is also regarded as a tough man, and his somewhat high-handed manners led to the dissolution of a big opposition party headed by him in 1997.