Japanese humour tends to be much more story-based, rather than the telling of simple gags. Whether it be the old style rakugo (storytelling by a comic in traditional dress) or the more modern manzai (comic double act having a rapid-fire conversation), the humour is in the, often rambling, ins and outs of the story. There is a lot of playing on words and the use of dialect for full comic effect.
Here’s a very condensed version of the very famous story, Manjū Kowai, told in the rakugo tradition and stripped of all the little side stories woven into the narrative:
友人達とお酒を飲んでいると、ある一人の人物がこの世で何が一番怖いか皆に問いかけます。一人はクモ、またもう一人はナメクジ、その横の人は蛇と答えます。そのうち一人はまんじゅうが一番怖い。。と答えました。それを聞くと他の友達は良くある冗談として大量のまんじゅうを買い込み、彼を一緒に部屋に閉じ込めてしまいます。しばらくして皆が様子を見ようと扉を開けると、なんと彼はまんじゅうを全部食べてしまっているではないですか！友達の一人が言います。『なんだ、お前まんじゅうが怖いって言ったじゃあないか。このうそつきめ！本当は何が怖いか正直に言ってみろ。』と聞くと、彼は『はて、、』と言ってしばらく考え込み、『いいタイミングで聞いてくれたものだ。今はおいしいお茶が本当に怖い』。
Translation:
A few friends are sitting around having some drinks. One of them asks the rest what they’re most scared of. One says spiders, another says slugs, the guy next to him snakes and so on... Finally, one of them admits it’s manjū cakes that scare him the most. So, as a practical joke, his friends go off to get heaps of manju cakes and lock him in a room with them. After a while, they open the door - only to see that he’s actually eaten all of them! "Hey!" shouts one of the friends, "I thought you said you were terrified of manjū! You liar! So come on, tell us the truth now! What is it that you're really frightened of?" "Well," says the man thinking for a while, "Funny you ask that, but at this very moment, I think I'm really scared of a nice cup of tea...."
If I learn Japanese, will it help me with any other languages?
A knowledge of Japanese will help immensely if you intend to learn Korean as the two languages are grammatically very similar. Chinese is very different in this respect although learning the Japanese characters would prepare you for the bigger task of learning the Chinese ones.
What not to say and do
One of the most notorious ways in which foreigners (especially Italians) embarrass themselves is when they first go to a Japanese bar and say cin cin on clinking glasses to toast. Unfortunately for them, chinchin is how Japanese children refer to the male organ!
(To be continued)
Thanks to
(To be continued)
Thanks to
