Yesterday I took a day off from work and went down to Tokyo for an appointment I had. As the taxi took me to my destination, I was delighted to find that it was located directly across the street from Tokyo Tower, the iconic scale replica of the Eifel Tower that proves Japan secretly wants to be part of Europe. The taxi driver told me, “You really should go up to the top of the tower if you haven’t been yet. The ‘tension’ is really amazing up there.” This word (tension) is one of several English words the Japanese use in a slightly odd way, in this case to mean fun or excitement. Here are some other “English” words that might not mean what you think they mean in Japan.
- “fight” means do your best, don’t give up (Fight-oh!)
- if there’s a girl you like, you should “attack” her (attack = to vigorously pursue love)
- plug your computer into a “consent” (a power outlet, from “concentric plug”)
- don’t trust the “masukomi” (what the news media is called, from “mass communications”)
- if a sporting event is called due to rain, hold a “revenge” challenge later (meaning “a second attempt”)
- move to Tokyo and buy a “mansion” (what a condominium is called)
- “glamor,” which refers to a woman with a buxom figure
- “feminist,” which somehow refers to a man who’s very polite and gentlemanly towards women (updated to”herbivore male” these days)
- “free size” (Japanese for “one size fits all” — we’ve got some of those on our Japanese fashion pages)
- “rinse-in shampoo,” shampoo with “rinse” (aka conditioning) inside
“You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means”
