I’ve written before about how, while studying Japanese, it’s easy to find yourself latching on to words or kanji characters as being especially kakko ii, a word that means “good style” or “cool,” and one word I’ve always liked is amano-jaku, pronounced “Amano Jack.” Originally the name of a shape-shifting Shinto/Buddhist deity known for tempting mortals into doing naughty things, today the term applies to anyone who is extremely contrarian in nature, and who avoids doing things that are popular simply because they’re popular. For example, I’ve never in my life seen the movie Top Gun, because back when it was in the theatres it was so popular that I felt pushed away by that, unable to watch a movie that everyone was raving about so much, and in this the term definitely applies to me, and to anyone who hates being trendy. The opposite of an amano-jaku is mii-haa (like Me! Ha!), someone who loves popular things because they’re popular, which happens all too often in Japan’s group-oriented society.
