Thursday, January 22, 2009

New vocabulary

Just came across a disturbing (to me) new concept on Music Station tonight.

On the internet, in places like the 'chans (don't ask...you don't wanna know), they have a derogatory term for Americans who wanna be Japanese -- Wapanese. You may already know the type. They consider themselves well versed in Japanese culture and language based solely on, say, the viewing of a small sampling of anime and/or manga, they...well, that's enough, isn't it?

On Music Station (a late-night pop music show, mixing song rankings, live performances and interviews), they just showed a story on an American, Kevin Kmetz, who has become expert on the shamisen (Japanese three-stringed lute). He has released albums with his band, God of Shamisen. They played several clips of his playing, and he's really good, having won honors at several Japanese shamisen festivals.

How did they refer to this guy on Japanese TV?

和メリカン。

Labels: ,

3 Comments:

Blogger Aym said...

I think I missed the punch line...

January 24, 2009 7:58 PM  
Blogger Derrick said...

Harmony [merikan] ?

January 25, 2009 4:04 PM  
Blogger Rob said...

{Harmony}merikan is right. The character 「和」 is read, "wa."

Thus, "Wamerican."

Sorry 'bout that...

January 25, 2009 8:11 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home