原爆記念日

Today is the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing of 広島 (Hiroshima, Japan).

And every year on August 6th in Hiroshima and August 9th in Nagasaki, there are peace ceremonies to remember those who died in the bombing and to hope for a future with no more nuclear weapons…or even war.

But today’s peace ceremony in Hiroshima and the one in Nagasaki on next Monday will be different because the American ambassador to Japan will attend the ceremonies…which will be the first time an American government official attended them.

A photo of the floating lanterns at the Peace Ceremony in Hiroshima a few years ago.

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In other news, a Japanese version of the Hollywood hit movie “Ghost” (that starred Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze) is due to be in theaters in Japan this coming November.

A promo poster for the original U.S. movie "Ghost".

The Japanese remake movie will be titled “Love And Soul” and will star Korean actor Song Seung Hun and Japanese actress Nanako Matsushima.

Song Seung Hun and Nanako Matsushima

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And also, the Japanese college national baseball team traveled to America to play the U.S. college national team.

The U.S. team beat Japan with a score of 4 – 2.

Godzilla will move to California

I just heard on TV today that the Japanese baseball player Hideki Matsui, who was recently chosen as the New York Yankees MVP (Most Valuable Player) in the World Series game that they just played not long ago, will be changing teams after playing for the Yankees for six years.

Once the 2010 professional baseball season starts, Matsui will begin his one year contract playing for the Los Angeles Angels baseball team…and will earn US $6.5 million (about JPY ¥583 million).

Hideki Matsui started his professional baseball career playing for the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants baseball team from 1993 -2002.

He was given the nickname “Godzilla“…originally because of his bad skin complexion, but later it referred to his powerful batting.

Tokyo Giants

In 2003, he began playing for the New York Yankees of the Major League Baseball (MLB) in America.

Even in America, he was still called “Godzilla“…and he still batted powerfully!

Godzilla demolished his bat!

I guess New York Yankees fans are disappointed to see him leave for Los Angeles…possibly the same way Tokyo Giants fans felt when he left to play in America six years ago.

Japanese words in English

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

★ 「班長」 (hanchou: morphed into the English “(Head) honcho“)
★ 「津波」 (tsunami)
★ 「人力車」 (jin-riki-sha: morphed into the English “Rick-shaw“)

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)?

侍JAPAN

Japan’s national 野球 (baseball) team is called 「侍JAPAN」 (“Samurai Japan“).

The World Baseball Classic (WBC) series began in 2006. There have been only two WBC series so far…the one in 2006, and the second one went from March 5, 2009 and ended today.
(Click here to read my earlier post about the World Baseball Classic (WBC)).

The champions of the WBC 2006 series was 「侍JAPAN」 (“Samurai Japan“)…and Japan defended their title today.

"Ichiro" Suzuki of the 「侍JAPAN」 ("Samurai Japan") team.

On March 21st, the semi-finals of the WBC ’09 began with four teams:
Japan, Korea, USA and Venezuela.
On March 21, Korea played Venezuela and won with a score of 10-2…eliminating Venezuela.
On March 22, Japan played the USA and won with a score of 9-4…eliminating America (USA).

The final game of the WBC 2009 today was Japan vs Korea…and Japan won with a final score of 5-3.
At the end of the ninth inning, Korea scored a point which brought the score up to 3-3…so the game went into “extra innings”. In the tenth inning, Japan got two more points to win the series!

「侍JAPAN」 (“Samurai Japan“) are the world baseball champion team.

(Did you watch any of the games?)

World Baseball Classic ’09

Do you know what the World Baseball Classic is?

World Baseball Classic logo

It’s a new international baseball competition. Like soccer’s World Cup.

The World Baseball Classic 2009 started today.
This is only the second time that the World Baseball Classic occurred.
The World Baseball Classic 2006 was the first and only other time this competition took place so far.

Japan was the champion team of the World Baseball Classic 2006 games.

The first game of the World Baseball Classic 2009 was Japan vs China. This game took place this afternoon (Japan time) at the Tokyo Dome.

Japan beat China with a final score of 4-0.
The next game will be Korea vs Taipei, also at the Tokyo Dome. Japan will face the winning team of that game on March 7th (again at the Tokyo Dome).

At the Tokyo Dome

The Japan team has high hopes of winning the World Baseball Classic again.

The host cities for the World Baseball Classic ’09 are Tokyo, Japan; Mexico City, Mexico; Toronto, Canada; San Juan, Puerto Rico; San Diego, USA; Miami, USA; and Los Angeles, USA.

The countries that have teams competing are: Japan (with Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka on the team), South Korea, China, Taipei, Australia, Canada, USA, Mexico, Dominican Republic (with Alex Rodriguez on the team), Cuba, Italy, The Netherlands, Panama, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and South Africa.

The World Baseball Classic 2009 will go from today’s game that Japan won until the final in Los Angeles on March 23, 2009.

Do you like baseball?
Are you following the World Baseball Classic? Which team are you supporting?
Did you watch the Japan vs China game today? If so, did you watch it on TV…or were you at the Tokyo Dome?

By the way, if you wanna visit the official World Baseball Classic homepage…then, click here.

Japan-related news…

Did you hear these news stories? What do you think?

• Hillary Clinton, the current U.S. Secretary Of State is currently in Tokyo on her first official overseas trip for her new position.
  It’s the first time a U.S. Secretary Of State begin a overseas tour in Asia.
• Japanese baseball players Ichiro, Daisuke Matsuzaka and other Japanese baseball players are back in Japan from America to play for Japan in the World Baseball Classic.
  The Japan team will play China in the first game of the tournament on March 5 at the Tokyo Dome. The final game is scheduled for March 23 in Los Angeles, USA.
• The Japanese Finance Minister, Shoichi Nakagawa, gave a press conference last weekend at a G-7 meeting in Rome, Italy last weekend…while he was drunk!
  He resigned his position today.
  Here’s a video of his embarrassing act:

  (Not that it excuses his behavior. But it seems that Nakagawa-san wasn’t the first politician to give a drunken speech at a G-7 conference…politicians from other countries have done the same. Kinda makes me wonder how productive G-7 meetings are!)