Volume 4: Friends!
Episode 15: Sports Fest, Second YearGo Class 3! - In Japanese, the cheer they actually say is "Ei, ei, oh!", which has no literal meaning, kind of like "Hip, hip, hurray!". However, since unlike "Hip, hip, hurray!", it is used to get worked up rather than to celebrate. Since in English, team pep talks usually end with shouting the team name, "Ei, ei, oh!" was replaced with "Go class 3!" for subtitled translation.
Lunch From A Loving Wife - While the term "aisai bentou" literally means "lunch from a loving wife", it is a phrase that is often broadly applied to any lunch made for a man by his sweetheart, married or not.
Taiyaki Pastry- This is a pastry shaped like a fish, because "taiyaki" literally means "grilled red snaper". The pastry is generally filled with a sweet red bean past filling.
Flat? - In this line, Osaka says "Paa?" in Japanese. "Pass" can mean a flat palm, often used in the context of "rock, paper, scissors". But if your head is "paa", it means you are stupid. Because the pun has to work with the palm and insult Kagura at the same time, in translation, it is used to insult Kagura's bust size instead.
Plaster Wall Monster - This monster originates from the seaside area of Fukushima Perfecture. The monster is said to suddenly appear in the path of someone walking, forming a wall that goes on and on in either direction, blocking that person's path. Supposedly, if you calmly poke the base of the wall with a stick, it will disappear.
Bamboo-And-Paper Umbrella Monster - In Japan, inanimate objects that have been tossed aside and abandoned are sometimes said to turn into monsters. The bamboo-and-paper umbrella is one such monster, which is often depicted as an upright bamboo-and-paper umbrella with two arms, an eye, and a leg, which it hops around on.
Episode 16 - Culture Fest, Second Year
Balloon Fishing - This is a game where threre are small rubber balloons bobbing in water. The balloons are usuaully only a couple of inches in diameter and are weighted witha little water inside. They have a string and loop attached to them so they can be fished up. The challenge is to fish them up using a hook attached to a piece of twisted paper. If the twisted paper gets wet, it is unlikely that it will bear the weight of the balloon containing the water, so the player must be careful to lower only the hook into the water to catch the loop attached to the balloon. This is a very typical game at festivals.
Buy and Eat Lots of Snacks - The phrase Osaka uses for "buy and eat snacks" is "kaigui", which is a word that usually describes students buying snacks on their way home from school. This behavior is considered to be poor manners, because students should be eating properly at mealtimes and have those meals provided for either by their family or school. It is also considered wasteful, because it means spending ones allowance on what amounts to junk food. So here, Osaka is playfully suggesting doing something that is generally off limits, even though buying snacks at culture fest booths is a normal thing to do and is not considered to be bad form.
Episode 17: End of Second Semster and Christmas
My Life Flashin' Before My Eyes - In Japanese, Osaka says she wants to see "soumatou". A "soumatou" is often translated as a "revovling lantern", because the shade of the lantern is made so that it spins. The shades have patterns on them, making the latern cast various spinning shadows on the surrounding walls. Thus, in Japanese, the penomenon of your life flashing before your eyes before you die is lekened to the revolving lantern.
G'Morn - In Japanese, Osaka says "Ohha", which is a variation of "ohayou", meaing "good morning". This expression was opularized by Shingo Katori, one of the members of SMAP, an extremely popular 5-member boy band. All members of the band are well-known for being entertainers and actors in addition (and possibly more than) their singing careers. Since this is a made-up slang word, it is not standard Japanese.
Yukari Is Running Because It's Christmas - In Japanese, "shiwasu" is an older word for December. It refers to the twelfth month of the lunar calendar (this does not quite line up with the modern day December). The Chinese characters for "shiwasu" are "instructor" and "run". Thus, in the original Japanese, Kimura is asking Yukari if she's running because it's "shiwasu", playing off its literal meaning of "running instructor". This is a very obtuse pun to reference. In English, "December" goes back a long way, so the best equivalent for an old name for December is "yule", which fortunately also sounds like "you'll".
Yule/Mule Routine - In Japanese, the months written on a contemporary calender are literally written as "The First Month", "The Second Month", etc. Thus, in the original Japanese, Tomo actually asks, "What's December [the twelefth month] called again?" because Japanese months do not really have names. The answer to this is "shiwasu". However, Tomo deliberately mangles it and says "shirasu", which means "whitebait" or "young sardines". "Mule" was used since it is an animal and it rhymes with "yule".
Nakata - Here, Yukari is referring to Hidetoshi Nakata, the most famous and world-renowned Japanese soccer player. He is one of the few Japanese athletes to go on to play for foreign teams. Katana's Note: In English, this was changed to "Mia Hamm", a well-known female soccer player.
End of Year Gifts - End of year gifts are generally given as a very formal "thank you". They are not given to famiily and friends, but to bosses, business partners, and other people you may feel a formal obligation to show some appreciation for. These gifts are usually fairly expensive.
Matsusaka Beef - This is the ultimate beef there is in Japan. As an example of just what a luxury it is, a matsusaka cattle is worth roughly 50,000,000 Yen (around $500,000). You may be able to buy three 200 gram steaks (approximately 1.3 lbs) for 9,500 Yen (roughly $95). A restaurant that specializes in serving matsusaka beef may have a 200 gram (7 oz.) tenderloin on the menu for 16,300 Yen (about $163). The reason this beef is so expensive is because it is a special breed of cattle which is raised very carefully on beer and massaged to enhance the marbling and texture of the meat.
Christmas - This is largely a secular holiday in Japan, where everyone goes through the motions of putting up Christmas trees, decorations, and giving gifts without any religious overtones, since Christains make up less than 1% of the population. There is also the Christmas cake, which has become as much a part of Christmas in Japan as fruitcake in America. The cake is just like any other cake for a special occassion; it just has "Merry Christmas" written on it with Christmas-like decorations.
Subterranean and the Ocean Floor - In Japan, the idea of intelligent civilizations hidden underground or at the bottom of the ocean is right up there with the idea that there are aliens in outer space. It is a much more common concept (if generally fictional) than it is in America.
Zodiac Confusion - When Tomo and Osaka recite the Zodiac from rat to snake in Japanese, they say, "Nee, ushi, tora, uu, tatsu, mii". This traditional Japanese mnemonic device for remembering the Zodiac works well up until that point, but from there, it becomes less smooth, making it harder to remember. This is why they can't get past snake. Also, while it is easy to intuitively tell which animal the first five terms refer to - "nee" stands for "nezumi", "ushi" is "ushi", "tora" is "tora", "uu" stands for "usagi", and "tatsu" is "tatsu" - in Japanese, "snake" is "hebi", even though the term used is "mii" when they recite the Zodiac. Thus, at the end, silly Osaka and Tomo are unable to make the connection between "mii" and "snake" and are not sure what the Zodiac for next year should be. This is why "snake" has been replaced by "adder", so that this confusion can be at least somewhat plausible in English.
Grandma's Fountain of Wisdom - This phrase generally refers to little tricks to doing things well or making things easier, usually having to do with home economics. Yukari talks about reading it because there are many books titled along these lines that cover such topics.
Episode 18: Koyomi's Ordeals
Warm Heated Table - Also known as a "kotatsu". In most areas of Japan, because the winters are not very harsh, homes often do not have central heating. Thus, in the winter, the kotatsu becomes a central gathering area for the family. A kotatsu is fundamentally a low table with a heating unit in the middle underneath and a blanket covering the sides to keep the warmth in. In the old days, the heating unti would be fueled with charcoal, but these days, it is generally an electric space heater.
White Friend, Black - A well-known Hokkaido souvenir is called "White Lover". It is a gift pack of white chocolate sandwiched between delicate cookie-type pastries. The "black" version is the milk chocholate version. Of course, Osaka and Chiyo's reaction to the packaging is still due to the fact that it says white and black together.
Bear Stew - There is an actual product which looks exactly like this bear stew, except that is is actually curry, not stew.
Noboribetsu Karls - Noboribetsu is a famous hot springs region in Hokkaido. The Karls is a specific area in the Noboribetsu region named after Karlsbad in the Czech Repbulic.
Blue Spring - The word for "youth" (as in "someone's youth"), is "seishun", which is literally written as "blue spring". In Japanese, blue can also be interpreted as agreen, as in "being green" and not mature yet. This is why Osaka starts asking about various colors of spring.
Episode 19: One Spring Night
Arranged Marriages - In Japan, arranged marriages are a formal type of matchmaking where two people are introduced through various family connections. If they are agreeable to it, they are encouraged to get to know each other and then decided whether or not to get married. If it doesn't work out, mor emeetings with different people will be set up. Naturally, this is meant to be taken more seriously than a dating service and both parties come to the table with the understanding that they are looking for someone to marry, not someone to have a fling with.
Hashed Beef and Curry - Hashed beef is a thick stew-type of dish made of hashed beef, onions, and demi-glace sauce which is served over rice. Japanese curry also tends to be brown but, unlike hashed beef, has carrots and potatoes in addition to beef and onion. Not being able to tell the two apart is a little strange, since with carrots and potatoes, curry generally looks somewhat different than hashed beef, even though both are brown in color and served over rice. However, it would be virtually impossible not to be able to tell them apart by taste, since one is spicy (the curry) and the other is not.
Freedom Pun - The Japanese word "freedom" is "yoyuu". It translates as leisure, freedom, etc. Tomo makes a very bad pun when she says "yoo yuu-wa!". This means something along the lines of "I can't believe you said that!". Thus, it puns off "yoyuu" because it only requires stretching the "O" to change it from one to the other. This is where the pun on "freedom" comes in from English.
"My Heart Is That Of A Little Girl And I Parachute" Partial Lyrics
"Samishikunai mitai ni" [As if I'm not lonely]
"Omowareteru fundan no" [People always thinking that]
"Shizen no taido mo tokidoki nandaka ne" [Even that natural attitude is sometimes just...]
"Tsumannai koto dayo" [It's silly to worry about]
"Musunda ribbon no kami" [Hair tied up in ribbons]
"Hayari no guzzu mottetair" [Having trendy character goods]
"Kawaii kimochi ga daredemo aru desho" [Everyone has these cute feelings]
"Watashi ni mo..." [Right now, I also...]
They Show Up - When Kagura says, "This", and puts her hands up in front of her, she means that ghosts show up in the area. Ghosts are often depicted in this pose.
