Last month, I wrote a post about the Japanese Kappa.
But do you know the inexpensive, but delicious, 寿司 (sushi) chain in Japan called 「かっぱ寿司」 (“Kappa Zushi“)?
All of the sushi there cost only ¥105 each for a plate of two sushi.
Do you like sushi?
Have you ever tried 「かっぱ寿司」 (Kappa-Zushi)?
If you want to visit 「かっぱ寿司」 (Kappa-Zushi) you can find the nearest location by using their website (in Japanese only).
Often words or expressions from one language become part of another language. And sometimes the meaning of the word gets changed.
In Japan, alot of words of foreign origin are used in the Japanese language. Many are used quite differently in Japanese than they are in their country of origin.
For example, パン (pan) is Japanese for bread. It came from the Portuguese word “pão“, which means “bread”. And 「カステラ」 (Kasutera) is the Japanese word for a type of cake that was introduced from Portugal called “Castella“.
There are many others. From English, Japan uses words like 「アイスクリーム」 (ice cream) and バスケットボール (basketball)*.
*(Foreign sports usually keep their original name in Japanese. An exception is 「野球」 (“Yakyuu“) for “baseball”. (lit. “field globe (ball)), which isn’t called by it’s English name because it was introduced to Japan during WW2 when America was considered an enemy.)
Some words are shortened. Such as テレビ (Terebi) for “television”. And some words have morphed into something unrecognizable to English-speakers, such as 「スキンシップ」 (skinship) for “bonding”.
But it works the other way too.
America (and other countries as well, I’m sure) have adopted Japanese words into the English language. Some have retained their original meaning. But others are used with totally different meanings than the “real” Japanese meaning.
And many “Japanese words” in English are pronounced so differently that a Japanese person wouldn’t recognize it.
For example,
★ 「アニメ」 (anime: Japanese animation)
★ 「マンガ」 (manga: Japanese comics)
★ 「オタク」 (otaku: is used as “fanatic” overseas, but “a Trekkie” is closer to the Japanese meaning)
★ 「カラオケ」 (karaoke)
★ 「さようなら」 (sayonara: farewell (not used in Japan in cases when you’ll be seeing the person again before long))
★ 「台風」 (taifuu: in English, the pronunciation morphed to “typhoon”)
★ 「きもの」 (kimono)
★ 「寿司」 (sushi: isn’t “raw fish” (that’s sashimi). Sushi is vinegared-rice with a topping (such as sashimi))
★ 「(お)酒」 ((O)-saké)
★ 「すき焼き」 (sukiyaki)
★ 「相撲」 (sumo: Japan’s national sport)
★ 「芸者」 (Geisha: aren’t prostitutes)
★ 「歌舞伎」 (Kabuki)
A promo poster for a Kabuki show
I’m sure there are more. This is all that I could think of off the top of my head.
Do you know some other instances of Japanese words being popularly used in English (or another language)?
Today my wife and I went to a Levi’s outlet sale in 新宿 (Shinjuku, Tokyo).
We bought some clothes for our kids.
While we were in 新宿 (Shinjuku), we had lunch at 三葉回転寿司 (Mitsuba conveyor-belt sushi).
Do they have 回転寿司 (conveyor-belt sushi) restaurants in your country?
At this type of sushi restaurant, the sushi chef prepares various types of sushi and puts them on different colored plates. Each colored plate represents the price for that particular sushi.
Then the sushi is placed on a conveyor-belt and goes around and when the one you want passes in front of you, you can take it off and eat it.
When you’re ready to leave, the restaurant staff calculates how much you owe by counting the colored plates from all the sushi you ate.
You can also request the sushi chef to make a particular sushi that you want, if you don’t see it on the conveyor.
Here are a few photos I took of the sushi and around 新宿 (Shinjuku):
フグ (Blowfish) skin
This building in Shinjuku has banners advertising Tokyo's bid for the 2016 Olympics.
The banner says: 「Tokyo 2016. 日本だから、できる。 あたらしいオリンピック！」 ("Tokyo 2016. This is Japan, so we can can do it...a new Olympics!")
Tokyo Five 
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