#she speaks okinawan japanese

[d-joana-a-shippadora]

Sachiko Kurogawa || Major International Academy Book Series || @majorinternationalacademy

"Agora que eu estou parando para pensar, acho que não cheguei a me apresentar, não é mesmo? [...] Sachiko Kurogawa, yutashiku!"

"Come to think of it, I don't think I introduced myself, right? [...] Sachiko Kurogawa, yutashiku!"

[dailydemonspotlight]

Kinmamon - Day 65

Race: Enigma

Alignment: Light-Neutral

July 5th, 2024

Among the scores of demons in the SMT series, the Enigma race is one of the most curious. Made up entirely of demons whose origins are wholly unknown, or otherwise hard to track, the race as a whole is incredibly difficult to even parse, and unfortunately, today's Demon of the Day is one of those that belong to this accursed collection. Welcome Kinmamon, an incredibly strange god of Okinawa with a notable lack of sources. Yep, we have another one of these.

Kinmamom is a purported Okinawan deity originating from Ryukyuan religion, but almost everything surrounding it is vague and murky before its eventual co-opting into the Ijun religion of Ryukyu. While basically everything regarding it seems to paint it as a recent development, a god created for Ijun to be the cosmic deity above all others, there are many other sources that contest this.

Ijun, a Shinto offshoot religion native to Okinawa, is a modern religion created in 1972 to worship Kinmamom, yet there are many other things relating to this deity that make it difficult to parse- for one, a 19th century play called "Strange Tales of the Bow Moon" purportedly references Kinmamom, as this tumblr post by @yamayuandadu goes over, referenced in the Japanese wikipedia page about Kinmamom. However, of course, Wikipedia is far from a reliable source, but something else which almost ensures that this god didn't originate from Ijun is a vintage article in German that references the god by name, despite originating from over 100 years ago.

Past that, though, a good source comes from... hey, they reblogged my Backbeard post! Holy shit! Wow, I didn't expect things to come full circle like this. Anyway, one of the few sources I can work off of for this outside of several deep insights into Ijun itself is this post by @eirikrjs which talks about his role as a god of the sea who brought 'life' to the Okinawan islands. To quote,

Also known as “the God from Beyond the Sea, Marebito”, Kinmamon is an enigmatic and mysterious deity of Ryukyu Shinto, a branch of Shinto obviously practiced in the Ryukyu islands. His/her connections with sea travel and the implication that he/she brought “life” to the Ryukyu islands are thought to imply it was an introduced figure and was quite possibly Amaterasu who was introduced and then changed through lack of continual contact at the time. The kanji used for Kinmamon’s name, “  君真物 ” literally meaning “the true one”, are also thought to have been used as an honorific title for miko (shrine maidens); consequently, there is also a belief that perhaps Kinmamon is simply the evolution of the deification of miko. In addition, the kanji “ 君” is often used to write “ 神女”, megami or “goddess”, in the local Ryukyu dialect which causes even further gender confusion!Bibliography:   『琉球神道記』  袋中著    宜野座嗣剛  訳  東洋図書出版   “Records of Ryukyu Shinto” by  Hiroshi Azuma.  Orient Books Publications/Shorin Ronshu, 2001.  ISBN-10: 4947667737

But, well, you know the lack of sources is bad when almost everything out there has to be choppily translated. In Ijun, Kinmamon is an all-powerful deity who visited the founder of the religion, Takayasu Rokuro, and instructed him to seek out an ancient book called the Ryukyu Shinto-ki, as gone over in this paper by Christopher A. Reichl. As the paper goes into, Takayasu speaks of Kinmamon as a deity who was once worshipped in the very early ages, though was forgotten about after Satsuma rose to power, phasing out the religion in 1609. Of course, I cannot find any source for this, but it could possibly explain why Kinmamon is so obscure, yet still referenced in ages-old articles predating Ijun itself. A lot of the things relating to this deity are obscure, and it's very fitting for its race being, well, that of an Enigma.

Hilariously, almost all of the sources I could find for this were also confused SMT fans trying to figure out the source for this demon. We really are just an ouroboros of hyperfixated nerds, huh. I haven't played Strange Journey, so I can't give much of a take on Kinmamon's portrayal in the series, but I do find the design very cool and unique- I especially love the symbols on its head and arms, though I'm not sure what they could ultimately mean? Overall, though, I'd recommend digging deep yourselves into this demon's backstory. Maybe you all could uncover something I couldn't!

[twsthc]

twst ethnicity & language hcs 🦇

THANK U EVERYONE ON TWITTER WHO SUBMITTED HCS!! This thread took me forever, pls forgive an punctuation/general writing inconsistencies or spelling errors

warnings: none

last updated: apr 11, 2024

some collective headcanons:

i think the characters who are close to each other share words with each other and everyone kind of mixes things up (projecting)

"que... 为什么 es 你的 kouting 说了吗?!"

???? i hope this makes sense

all of them swear in their native languages when angry (minus riddle)

HEARTSLABYUL 🍓

Riddle: White British & Kinh Vietnamese, speaks Vietnamese

╰Mom: 🇻🇳 Dad: 🇬🇧

this hc is based on my vietnamese friend whos mom is the same as riddles

thank you for the hc nhi ily

Ace: Filipino, speaks Tagalog

constantly using "nanay mo" (your mom) insults

Deuce: Han Taiwanese & Yamato Japanese, speaks (正體字) Mandarin

╰Mom: 🇹🇼 Dad: 🇯🇵

his mom and ahgong speak hokkien and he doesnt, he also struggles to read traditional characters

his mom gave birth to him when she was a teen and she doesn't know the father so he's not too connected to his JP side

Cater: Hispanic Filipino of British Latin descent, speaks Filipino and Spanish

Trey: Malay Indonesian, speaks Indonesian and Malay

SAVANACLAW 🥩

Leona: Tanzanian, Kikuyu Kenyan, Malian (Mandinke)

╰Mom: 🇹🇿🇰🇪 Dad: 🇹🇿🇲🇱

i know he sucks his teeth all the damn time

tsk get out of my way herbivore tsk ugh tsk

ghana is one of the only african countries that still have a monarchy

also the lion king is based off of Mansa Musa the Malian king so YA

Ruggie: Afro-Brazilian & Gullah, speaks Southern Tutnese, Gullah, & Brazilian Portugese

╰Mom: 🇧🇷 Dad: 🇺🇸 

projection beam

uses tutnese to be sneaky, Gullah with his grandma

i know the soul food in his house on sunday goes CRAZY

more connected to his Gullah side because his grandma is AA and he doesnt know his brazilian parent, but does try to learn more about the culture just for himself

Jack: Inuit Alaskan, Tarabin Bedouin Afro-Egyptian, speaks Arabic

╰Mom: 🇪🇬 Dad: "🇺🇸"

no one submitted hcs for jacky wacky...

well he speaks the Masri dialect methinks

OCTAINEVILLE 🐚

HONORABLE MENTION: someone said they hc the octatrio speak Danish with an Omal dialect!

Azul: White Italian/Hawaiian/Afro-Hatian, speaks Hatian Creole and some Italian

╰Mom: 🇮🇹🇭🇹 Bio dad: Hawaiian

His step dad is also Hawaiian so he was able to keep that culture as well

Apparently octopi are very important to polynesian culture! very interesting

The reason the tweels don't let him cook is actually because all of his creations come out so spicy and flavorful it started scaring white customers

Floyd: Okinawan Japanese/Afro-Bajan, speaks Japanese & Patois

╰Mom: 🇯🇵 Dad: 🇯🇵🇧🇧

I think the tweels are more connected to their Japanese side than their Caribbean side, but Floyd says "gwan" all the time so who knows

He often mixes Japanese and common language. Not because he isn't fluent in common language but because he wants to

When cooking he tries to combine both cultures (sooo much curry...)

Jade: Okinawan Japanese/Afro-Bajan, speaks Japanese & Patois

Both Japan and Trinidad and Tobago have really cool tropical landscapes so i think hed be super proud of his ethnicity (AKA the greenery from where hes from)

AH i forgot to mention, but to keep up with the islander theme from the OG movies i think the tweels would be more from the Okinawa region

SCARABIA 🌞

Kalim: Punjabi Pakistani, speaks Urdu

ok i said this on twitter but i think he tries to learn Arabic for Jamil (he's awful at it but he is TRYING!)

i also said methinks he likes how the word for "no" in Arabic sounds like "la"

whenever jamil tries to make him productive he goes "lalalala" and thinks hes the funniest person in the entire world

Jamil: Persian Iranian, speaks the Syrian Arabic dialect & Urdu

always talking shit about people in arabic

especially kalim, but kalim doesnt know how to say "lazy bastard" in Arabic yet so he is oblivious

POMEFIORE 👑

Vil: Jewish German-American, speaks Hebrew, French, Russian, & Spanish

╰Mom: 🇩🇪🇺🇸 Dad: 🇮🇳

looks almost completely white

she speaks so many languages mostly for her acting career

Rook: Zulu South African, Baoulé Ivorian, Canadian French, speaks French

╰Mom: 🇨🇮🇿🇦 Dad: 🇨🇦🇿🇦

when they came to NRC they weren't fluent in the common language but sam (louisianan, speaks French Creole) helped them, as well as vil who speaks french

now theyre more fluent in common language but still has a thick Montreal accent

has that phlegm-y "h" sound in the back of their throat

Epel: Laz Turkish & Southern American, speaks English and Kartvelian

╰Mom: 🇹🇷 Dad: 🇺🇸 

when speaking english he has a little southern accent :3

hes always confusing the languages he knows if the words are too similar, he also has a little Turkish accent

IGNEHYDE 💀

Idia: Romani Greek & Turkish, white Puerto Rican, speaks Greek and Spanish

╰Mom: 🇵🇷 Dad: 🇹🇷🇬🇷 

cursing people out in rapid greek and/or spanish in COD lobbies

i also think he learned like 3 Greek poems just so he could qrt people on twitter who he disagreed with

"those who can not obtain the grape will say it is sour" but like in Greek

DIASOMNIA 🐉

Malleus: Han Chinese, speaks Mandarin, Gaelic, & a shit ton of other languages

mostly speaks Mandarin

can read/write traditional and simplified characters!

HONORABLE MENTION: someone hced him as having Jewish descent and speaking Hebrew!

Lilia: Mongolian & Chinese, speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, Gaelic, and a shit ton of other ancient languages

i think he speaks with a Northern Chinese dialect in Mandarin, I dont speak Canto or Hokkien so idk about that srry :,3

he drawls his 儿s a lot methinks mostly to get a point a cross

Sebek: Egyptian, Nenet Russian, Han Chinese, speaks Cantonese & some Gaelic

╰Mom: 🇷🇺🇪🇬 Dad: 🇨🇳

is trying really hard to be fluent in Gaelic so he can impress malleus

he already knew some Gaelic but just basic words/sentences

Silver: Han Taiwanese, Tibetan, & French speaks Mandarin

╰Mom: 🇨🇳🇹🇼 Dad: 🇫🇷

the difference between Taiwanese pronunciation vs Chinese pronunciation is that it sounds... "softer" (?)

with his character as a whole just having more slurred, soft words makes sense.

maybe he knows how to say like "hello" and "please" in Gaelic because he was pretty young when Lilia brought him in and he naturally picked up like... two words

also i hc he is tibetan because the wiki page said sleeping beauty is set in the himalayas? so i just ran with it LOL

[yarameijer]

What do you think is Tenma's and others' favourite food and drink?

Ooh, favorite foods! Okay so please bear with me, I’m not familiar with Japanese cuisine but I’ll give it a shot!

First, the first-years! Tsurugi has a sweet tooth, but he wouldn’t admit it even on pain of death and only Yuuichi knows because Tsurugi believes it’d take away from his reputation otherwise. He loves rice cakes, especially with fillings. He’s also a fan of dried beans covered with sugar.

Hikaru is also a major fan of sweets and is willing to try whatever's offered to him, but his absolute favorite is coffee jelly. He can sometimes be bribed with sweets if necessary. To finish up the sweet tooth trio, Aoi loves any type of cake, although she prefers milder tastes instead of super sweet. She and Hikaru go out to cafes to try out their menu and manage to drag Tsurugi along eventually, although he’ll pretend to come along just to humor them. These three are also the biggest fans of going to Tenma’s place, because Aki usually has some homemade baking ready.

Shinsuke really likes onigiri, it’s simple yet tasty, and easy to share with friends. No need for any fancy dishes for him! He’s also a fan of sweets, although not as bad as the three mentioned above, and he likes fruit-flavored soy milk.

Kariya likes takoyaki the most! It’s pretty easy to get, so he likes treating himself to it if he’s done well on a test or something, or if he’s just in the mood. Since he lives in an orphanage, food options are dependent on whatever gets prepared there, so while the food is good he doesn’t really have any input in dinner. Makes it extra nice to get takoyaki as a snack for himself!

If asked, Tenma’s favorite food is whatever Aki prepares because her cooking is amazing, but his favorite dish would be gōyā chanpurū, Okinawan stir fry. He’s loved it since he was young, and now that he lives in Tokyo, it reminds him of home. He also enjoys sweet snacks, particularly mitarashi dango and sata andagi (which is also from Okinawa, and he loves it for similar reasons).

Onto the second-years! Hamano loves sashimi (raw fish), but he doesn’t really have a preference for a specific type. He also likes taiyaki, fish-shaped cakes, not only because of the taste but also because they’re, well, in the shape of a fish. He and Hayami often get some if they're hanging out after school, most often with red bean paste or custard filling. Although Hayami likes taiyaki too, he prefers gyõza (Japanese dumplings). He’s also a pretty big tea fan, especially green tea, which he has in common with Shindou.

Speaking of - everyone knows Shindou is a rich kid. Influential, loaded family that goes to operas and pays for private tutoring outside of school and eats at a five star restaurant every other month. And yet, ironically, his absolute favorite food turns out to be homemade ramen from Rairaiken (after his friends have introduced him to it, of course). He likes to experiment with toppings and is delighted whenever he finds a new combination he enjoys.

Kirino’s favorite food is sushi, also because there’s such a wide variety of it, and he can pick whatever he feels like at that moment. Luckily for him, he’s best friends with rich kid Shindou, and whenever they hang out at his manor, the staff knows to prepare sushi. Kirino takes full advantage of this and claims it’s payment for dealing with Shindou’s soccer strategy ramblings. Just like Shindou and Hayami, he likes green tea, but he prefers royal milk tea.

Nishiki picked up a love for Italian cuisine during his time abroad. He loves ravioli (stuffed pasta) and he’s got a preference for ciabatta bread. He’s lucky enough not to be lactose intolerant like many other Japanese people, and he absolutely LOVED spending time in a country with countless cheese options, in which Japan is, unsurprisingly, lacking. He’s cooked for his friends a few times and it was a pretty big success.

Midori and Kurama, surprisingly enough, share their favorite food: kushiyaki, skewered and grilled foods. Midori loves grilled pork skewers, whereas Kurama’s favorite are grilled vegetable skewers. Midori likes other types as well, but Kurama’s a picky eater so he'll stick to his vegetables, thank you very much.

Akane can usually be found with various types of bread in her bento, the specific kind switching every day. It’s her favorite snack and she usually brings some to eat during afternoon practice. Her favorites are melonpan and anpan (filled with red bean paste). She brings enough for the entire team as a treat if they’ve won a particularly hard match. She also really loves bubble tea (her favorite is honeydew milk tea), and often drags Aoi and Midori along. Aoi’s favorite is matcha milk tea, and Midori’s is black milk tea.

Aoyama, as mentioned in the AR one-shot collection, is obsessed with noodles. His favorite is kitsune udon, but he likes switching it up so he also orders other dishes quite regularly. Ichino also appreciates udon and other noodle foods (he doesn’t really have a choice, being best friends with Aoyama), and he’s also a big fan of shaved ice.

Finally the third-years! They’ve actually got a pretty big thing in common there: they all prefer the company over the food, really. Sangoku, for example, doesn’t really have a favorite food. He loves cooking, and cooking for others, and he’s a fan of trying out new recipes, although he favors traditional Japanese meals. He originally taught himself how to cook because his mother is usually busy with work, but discovered a love for it and he likes seeing his friends enjoy his food. He does really enjoy a good cup of green tea, though, like Shindou and Hayami.

Next, Kurumada! If asked, he claims he likes going to yakiniku (grilled meat) restaurants with his friends most. He thinks it’s tasty, and he likes having multiple options for food and being able to just get whatever he’s in the mood for at the time. It’s only made better by the company, although inviting his team along has been known to end in chaos.

Amagi’s favorite food is katsudon, which he has in common with Mahoro. When they were kids, he, Mahoro and their childhood friend Kousaka Yukie would eat it as often as their parents would allow - that’s where his love for shared meals began, because it’s much more fun to eat together than alone.

…I may have gone a bit overboard with this. Whoops?

Hope you enjoyed!

[glaciiermonarch]

❀ *◦ sen mitsuji. genderfluid. he/she/they. demiromantic homosexual. ⇝ hey, isn’t that takaharu mochizuki? i think that the thirty-five-year-old from adelaide, south australia, works as dj at the boom boom room, music producer & engineer, and drummer of vain rogues & the ghost orchestra; but outside of that people describe them as perpetual busyness to prevent the chance of an emotion occurring; a pristine but empty-feeling mansion with too many rooms; perfectly pouty lips pulling up in a smirk over a private joke; and a robin's egg blue drum kit with every possible bell and whistle on the market. i hear they are moody & distant, but they are also known to be cerebral & generous. consider giving them a visit at their home in winterwood estates and get to know why they’re called the ice queen.

➙ this character uses he/him, they/them, AND she/her pronouns freely! the writer will be using ALL of them, sometimes within the same paragraph, so please extend the same courtesy! ➙ taka is attracted to men and masc-presenting enbies and just calls themself gay!

full name: takaharu mochizuki ➙ this is in "western" order since taka grew up in english-speaking countries ➙ kanji: 望月 貴陽 (Mochizuki Takaharu)  望 (mochi) meaning "wish, desire" and 月 (tsuki) meaning "moon;” together meaning “full moon” 貴 (taka) meaning “precious” and 陽 (haru) meaning “sun”

nicknames: taka, taki, tako, haru, mochi-san, tsuki-san

dob: 17 august 1989

place of birth: adelaide, south australia, australia

languages: japanese (native); australian english (native); korean (advanced); german (advanced); arabic (advanced); hindi (strong); mandarin (strong); okinawan (some)

education: bachelor’s degree in philosophy and asian & middle eastern studies, duke university

strengths: educated; cerebral; generous; loyal; resolute; shrewd; creative; captivating; wise; patient

weaknesses: cold; moody; gloomy; judgmental; harsh; disconnected; distant; crass

hobbies: playing drums, guitar, piano, and clarinet; surfing; skateboarding; playing video games; smoking weed; napping; reading

likes: warm weather & beaches; fashion;

dislikes: messy people; uncreative people; children (friends' kids are an exception)

disabilities & health: major depression; chronic back and knee pain

even the silverest of spoons being in your mouth when you're born doesn't shield you from the unhappiness of life, but it does slap a bandage over a festering wound so you can ignore it a while longer. kenta mochizuki, a dermatologist originally from japan. beth mcnulty, general legal counsel for one of the biggest energy companies in all of australia. married a little later than either of their families would have liked, but in their defense, they were both busy being successful. and they barely slowed down long enough to have their only child, takaharu.

though of an ornery countenance since birth, taka was always still popular and favored because he was pretty and rich. clarinet lessons, piano lessons, drum lessons, surfing lessons, she was set up for success from the very beginning. her childhood memories are mostly accompanied by nannies and tutors, though her father, an earnest and excitable man, always made an effort to be present in his child's life, eager to see her succeed.

there was always a distance between taka and their mother, though; taka knows now that beth never wanted to be a parent. this attitude became clearly evident when she didn't show up to taka's tenth birthday dinner. it was soon revealed that she'd forgotten, and more of the truth came tumbling out: she shirked her parental duties for an affair. and this apparently had been going on for quite some time, seeing other men that weren't her heartbreakingly devoted husband.

a divorce ensued, and taka sided with his kind, loving father, who had also always made an effort to keep japanese culture alive in the home. when taka was barely into her teens, her father sat her down to tell her about a woman he'd met online, one he'd fallen in love with. the catch was that she lived in malibu. taka was given the choice to live with her mother or move to the united states with her father. she easily chose the latter.

lashonda rhimes, successful anesthesiologist to the stars, and kenta's second wife. she was a few years younger, though not egregiously so, but still childless. and she treated taka like her own child, which might have been externally brushed off by the surly teenager, but taka came to appreciate it. he was popular in his new home, with his accent and his money and his looks. being so intelligent, the transition to a new continent wasn't difficult at all, and he finished high school near the top of his class.

he didn't really have a plan for his life, and all his parents really wanted out of him was just for him to go to college. an acceptance to duke university was sweetened by some scholarships, and whatever those didn't cover was easily made up for by the wads of cash his family had. taka had started smoking weed not long after landing in the US, but she branched out into new drugs while in durham, north carolina, for college.

acid trips were unpleasant every time she tried dropping; and she didn't like injecting anything to leave marks behind on her pretty body. but she soon found a bad habit in cocaine. she would sniff a few lines, party for several hours, go home and do homework, go to class, and go to modeling shoots, and do it all over again. somehow, using sheer ambition probably, she finished college within 4 years, even with a double major and a couple semesters spent studying abroad.

bouncing around the US for a year or so; living with his aunt in japan for a couple years; and then landing in anchorage for the next adventure around 2016

these days, taka keep busy in any way she knows how: too long with her own thoughts can be dangerous and make her itch to return to her cocaine habit. but they've done a good job of staying clean. taka doesn't need to work for money—his mother sends him gobs of money to curry his favor, and his father and stepmother have nobody else to spoil—but he does work to stay busy, spinning tunes at the boom boom room; modeling for small indie publications and brands; and gaining some traction as a music producer.

with more money than one person should ever need, taka gives a lot of it away. there are a few charities she routinely makes generous donations to; but she also likes to take care of her friends. she'll buy her closest friends whatever they want, buy their groceries, offer to pay rent or even let them stay in her house, offer to pay their medical bills... seriously, what is one lonely person gonna do with all those digits in their bank account? besides, spending money is the only way she knows how to show love.

[soupiyamashuu]

haruka HR alt.

Basic Information

Her name is Haruka Aragaki (荒垣春果)

Hero Name: Shi no Tenshi (lit. Angel of Death) - 死の天使

Agender (any pronouns)

Sapphic

She was born on Zamami Island, Okinawa, Japan on August 15.

He speaks Japanese, Okinawan, Hokkien, and extremely basic English.

blood type: AB

Power Type

Psychic Spirit Medium - specifically able to communicate with and make use of spirits, demons, and other supernatural forces in fighting.

Typically summons ghosts and other spirits to fight for her. However, due to there also being the psychic element to this … she can kind of force the other person to hallucinate a specific thing. like if she wanted the opponent to see something they were afraid of or wanted them to specifically be plagued by like. idk smile dog KHGKHFGHK she could force that image to show up in the other person’s mind.

Often communicates with the deceased for both just casual conversations and as “fortune telling” methods.

Likes & Dislikes

Likes: a lot of spooky things (horror games, movies, literature) but also. jpop and vocaloid songs..

Dislikes: uncleanliness, darkness, and getting close to others

Hobbies: seances and collecting bones..

Fave/Least Fave Animals: cats // ???

Fave/Least Fave Colors:  ??? // ???

Fears: Rejection

Family

Haruka grew up on Zamami Island in Okinawa and was hardly exposed to anyone close to her age. She has no siblings or extended family members and therefore had to play by herself for the most part growing up.

To cope with this, she made up “imaginary friends” but realized eventually those were just like. spirits and ghosts. She figured that talking to the deceased was better than talking to absolutely nobody at all.

Her closest friend is Maika, an Angel that she met on a trip to the Japanese Alps in Nagano prefecture. They made a summoning contract to work together, though Maika eventually came to Okinawa to live and ‘work’ with Haruka anyway.

Appearance

Long purple hair, usually braided in the back.

Dark green eyes

5 ft 3

Slender and toned.

Asian; she has dark skin due to being a native Okinawan (Ryukyuan) and also from living on an island for her entire life.

She is usually smiling but in the Makima way where it’s .. kind of suspicious idk.

Usually wears non-descript clothing in white or black colors only.

Hero Outfit: depends...

Has piercings on both ears.

Personality

Has often been described with terms like “cryptic” or “mysterious”. Her superhero persona and skillset have also resulted in her being considered ominous and frightening.

Haruka is very calm and methodical about most things. A lot of people are suspicious of her, but she has always pretended to be unfazed by this, though she is actually quite lonely sometimes. After all, it’s not like she chose her power set.

Then again, he is not really a particularly warm or openly compassionate person either. Usually tends to be reserved and aloof because he feels it’s easier to be detached from people.

Design Lore

Shin, Haruka, Mikiko, and Rin all represent an interpretation of the four horsemen of the apocalypse – Haruka = Death – the four of them are known by the Japanese name “Yohane no Mokushiroku no Yonkishi” (literal translation of the four horsemen)

august 15 is a common day of Obon - a holiday celebrated to honor the spirits of one’s ancestors

Trivia

Although he likes a lot of ominous stuff, he also just kind of likes watching anime and reading manga like a normal person. He likes the manga “Slam Dunk” a lot.

[mafuyutism]

here's one (1) set of main OCs! this is about to get real long, so get ready! introductions will be from left to right.

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ * 。° 。 •˚《

【Miles Chauhan】

Pronouns: He/Him

Birthday: October 1st

Bio: A transfer student from India along with his """"little sister""""", Anaya. He is rather secretive and prefers to keep to his little circle of friends, so not many people know too much about him. Despite all this, he is very popular and regularly gets love confessions from people who barely know his name. He may seem standoffish at first, but he's completely chill once you get to know him. On a totally unrelated note, Miles is able to see into the future.

Likes: Just about any food as long as its sweet (surprisingly)

Dislikes: anything that is sour. oh yeah, he doesn't like belut either. actually, he just doesn't like eels in general. he will get unreasonably angry with you if you come at him with anything with an eel in it.

Worthless trivia: Anyone who has attempted to track down his family heritage has ended up just going in circles. On that note, Miles is the older sibling. He is most certainly the older sibling! This is very true, very easily verifiable information.

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ * 。° 。 •˚《

【Anaya Chauhan】

Pronouns: She/Her

Birthday: October 1st

Bio: Transfer student from India along with her """""little brother"""", Miles. Contrary to her sibling, she is plenty easygoing and is the more chill of the two of them. This certainly doesn’t mean she can’t get angry; if anything, she is 20x worse than Miles when she’s angry. Luckily for the people around her, it’s almost impossible to make her upset, but if you decide to lay a hand on one of her friends, you should start saying your prayers. And run *very* far, preferably to a different continent. Despite that, she is very dependable as a friend, and is willing to let just about anyone into her circle of friends, much to Miles’ chagrin. Much like her brother, she is quite popular and regularly gets love confessions from strangers. Anyways, she has the power to always know how someone feels, regardless of how much they lie about it.

Likes: Just about everything

Dislikes: Not much…

Worthless trivia: If Anaya is speaking in Hindi, there’s a 99% chance that she is shit talking either you or someone in the general vicinity. Or she’s just having a private conversation that she doesn’t want English speakers eavesdropping on. And no, there is no way you can tell the difference. Oh, and she is the older sibling! This is very true, verifiable information.

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ * 。° 。 •˚《

【Chihiro Suzumiya】

Pronouns: He/Him (?????)

Birthday: August 4th (?????)

Bio: 15 year old from Okinawa and is a younger sibling to a sister that he very much does not like and will make great effort to never mention. Unlike the rest of his friends, Chihiro is relatively sheltered and naïve, making him more vulnerable to people wanting to take advantage of him. He's also pretty docile, so it's pretty much impossible to make him angry. On that note... whether he wants to admit it or not, he has a massive savior complex, and will get very angry with you if you decide to bring it up. He also allegedly has a crush on Kala, but that's just a theory. A game theory.

All that aside, Chihiro has a pretty dark past that he doesn't like to talk about. His friends barely know anything about him other than the fact that he exists and is a sophomore. Hell, they don't even know that he has an older sibling. He's pretty much a blank slate of a human as far as they're concerned. He is also completely powerless.

Likes: Kala. Not much.

Dislikes: His older sister that will not be named. Not much else.

Worthless trivia: Chihiro speaks in Okinawan Japanese, and he'll fall into it if he gets angry or nervous. Granted there's not many differences between Okinawan Japanese and mainland Japanese, and it's more like a dialect like Kansai-ben, but still, I thought it was interesting to mention.

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ * 。° 。 •˚《

【Kala Jelani】

Pronouns: She/Her

Birthday: July 9th

Bio: Kala is a 15 yr old whose main languages are Swahili (from her father) and Hindi (her mother). She is pretty introverted, but is willing to open up once you get to know her. In her school, she's known for being a quote un quote "slut" simply because she has more friends that are boys than girls, and for acting more masculine than her peers... and sleeping in class. She once had a phase where she was hyper feminine, but she doesn't like to talk about it much. Kala is interested in video games, and usually stays up all night playing them.

(SLIGHT TW FOR SUICIDE!!! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!)

Sure she seems carefree on the surface, but deep inside Kala suffers from severe depression, which causes her to disappear from school for days at a time whenever she experiences an episode. Not many people notice, or care, but her friends (Chihiro & Anaya in particular) sure do. More often than not, Kala wants to disappear thanks to her overbearing mother who does some... less than savory things to keep her child in check. Kala doesn't enjoy speaking about her home life because of it.

On a lighter note, she allegedly as a crush on Chihiro, but no one knows if that's true or not. She's also part of a tiering guild, which is the main reason for her sleeping in class. Not that it's an excuse.

Likes: It's a secret????

Dislikes: Her mother

Worthless trivia: Girlie is basically running on energy drinks and the spite she feels for her mother. Also!!! She also has an ability of her own...! Kind of... she has the ability to make shields and then pop them like bubbles; but since she got said ability recently, she pretty much sucks at handling it.

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ * 。° 。 •˚《

OH MY FUCK T HIS IS FINALLY DONE. HELP. THIS TOOK ME A MONTH. I got stuck on Chihiro's because I didn't want to relay every last bit of his life, I wanted to make him appear more like a character with not much of a personality outside of being the therapist friend, but that was hard to do.

Likes/Dislikes are hard to write, too. So they may be updated. Maybe. Until then, have at this.

[mostly-mundane-atla]

In a modern AU where most of the cast is not originally from Alaska, where do you think they'd be from?

I don't know, I've seen people from just about every irl cultural inspiration for the show in Fairbanks (except maybe folks from Tibet, but I never actually asked so), the majority of them living there with their family and still speaking their languages, so I never really thought about back stories where everyone 20 and younger wasn't simultaneously born in Alaska and still being raised in a non-American culture. It never occured to me that was something I might need to do. Alaska is ridiculously diverse and no one ever talks about it.

I guess I do have cultural backgrounds, so I guess that could be where they're from? I dunno if that counts though.

Sokka and Katara's family is always Bering Straits Inupiaq. Exactly which village they're from isn't always specified (honestly just assume King Island unless stated otherwise because I like to be important), but they typically have family in nome.

I haven't written much with Aang, but I end up conceptualixing him as Thai a lot because most Buddhists I've seen were Thai. I should probably put more effort into thinking of him as Tibetan.

Ozai and Iroh are Chinese and Ursa is Okinawan with family in Hawai'i. One idea i keep getting is Zuko saying he's Japanese on his mom's side and when someone brings up that he said his mom is Okinawan he says "My dad says it's the same thing."

Suki is Ainu and Siberian Yup'ik

Toph is Chinese and depending on the day you ask, she was either taught English along with Mandarin Chinese by her bilingual nanny or learned English exclusively from Mel Brooks movies she technically wasn't allowed to watch. She also speaks French and Hebrew, claiming "I just like the way they sound."

Haru is Korean and Haida. The parents he refers to are technically his aunt and uncle on the Korean side, but as they can't have kids and he's been in their care for as long as he can remember, they're Mom and Dad to him. He has plenty of contact with his Haida relatives and there's a lot of planning ahead so that he has equal exposure to each culture.

Jet is Koyukon, Gwitchin, and Tanana, though he doesn't know how much of each.

Might add more at a later date

[writingwithcolor]

Japanese-coded girl from future

@writergeek-cos asked:

Dear writingwithcolor,

I’m writing a story about a girl from the year 3026 who travels back to 2026 to save the world from a disastrous future. She is Japanese, but was not born on Earth. How can I acknowledge her Japanese heritage, while at the same time conveying that she is from the future, having lived off-world her whole life?

Basically in her timeline, a giant weapons manufacturing company takes over the world in a massive attack in 2026. The attack forces much of humanity to move off world, its damage was so catastrophic. However, the war follows them into space, and the conflict turns into a war between most of humanity and this giant corporation. In 3026, the character decides she will travel back in time to prevent the initial takeover from ever happening.

Given Japan’s relationship with WMDs, it is realistic to have a Japanese character who opposes military armament proliferation (Even with the rise of the pro-military Japanese far right, the majority of Japan still opposes an alteration to Article 9). Though Japan censors their war crimes from textbooks, anti-war and pacifist ideology are still important to mandatory education curricula. For form’s sake, I would love for you to do more research into civilian grassroots organizations (particularly in Hiroshima and Nagasaki) for hibakusha and other stakeholders to get a cultural sense of how loud Japanese opposition would be to these companies.

There is concern that as more veterans and WWII survivors pass away, the younger generations will become increasingly ignorant about the necessity for Japan’s pacifism, however the Nikkei* communities and the multiracial Japanese communities within Japan have a high social media presence and talk to each other a fair deal. My grandparents were doing forced labor for the Imperial Army as middle school students and my conversations with my Okinawan counterparts of their family experiences with genocide have hardened our collective hatred of the Japanese right. We (multi-racial and Nikkei Japanese) are also the only growing segment of the Japanese population, so I can envision futures for either an increasingly pacifist OR an increasingly hawkish Japanese society. The one thing I request is that you do not make Japan the country that causes the cataclysm. We may be war criminals, but the legacy of the A-bombs runs very deep even to this day. I don’t think a non-Japanese person has the cultural competency to envision a Japanese society that OKs WMD use.

As to heritage, I don’t think you need to look far to realize that you don’t need “Japan the country” to be “Japanese” (by whatever metric one measures that term). Firstly, our Nikkei diaspora prove this. You are essentially adapting a diaspora narrative to space. Secondly, and arguably more importantly,  please be mindful that Japanese is a national heritage designation, not an ethnic one, so you’ll need to delve into your character’s background a good deal. What is her ethnicity? Where is she from? Does she speak a dialect? Please see the 2020 report for the Nikkei Global Research Project by Nippon Zaidan on Nikkei and Japanese cultures to get a sense of how Japanese diaspora preserve their culture and sense of Japanese-ness. I also recommend heading over to @wearejapanese, a tumblr blog dedicated to Japanese diaspora, including those from minority groups. 

For me, personally, the real fun of reading your story will be to see how you adapt Japanese cultural values to life in space via your world-building. I imagine different cultures will bring different skills to the table depending on their values. For humanity to survive, I imagine that a society focused around inclusion and harmony would make more sense, so I look forward to this story. 

I have a big question mark when it comes to how the 2026 portion of the plot will work, so I advise you to come up with your future world-building first (including factors that lead to the cataclysm and humanity’s evacuation from Earth) and write us another ask when you’ve got more of the story under your belt. 

- Marika

*I’m not dismissing the right-wing history of many Nikkei American and Peruvian organizations, however, I think it is fair to say the majority of the younger Nikkei Japanese oppose Japanese imperialism because imperialist movements tend to be exclusionary. 

[btzone]

Commonality of Buck-Tick member names

I was thinking that if you’re not Japanese, you might not know how common or rare the various Japanese names are. For Buck-Tick, the names of the band members are fairly common first names and surnames, not really anything unusual happening there. No native speaker should have trouble reading their names. However, the most interesting thing to note is that Hisashi’s kanji is not usually how one would think to read that name, which is how it ended up that on their very first release on an independent label, his name was typo-ed as Kotobuki instead of Hisashi. (To keep that kanji and reading, it is likely to add one more kanji to make Hisashi, much like how Atsushi’s name is 2 kanji.) Our Hisashi Imai is not the only one with that kanji and name reading, but it’s not the default way to read it. This is why when you fill out forms in Japan, you not only write your name’s kanji but you also write down how to read it because you never know what combos a parent came up with.

Some basic info about their surnames, such as how common it is and where in Japan is it most common. Excluding Hokkaido and Tokyo as the majority of people who live in those two places are “immigrants”, so to speak, and not native for several generations. (If you meet someone from those 2 places, ask them where their grandparents are from.) I need you to be able to track your family history in that general area for at least 150-200 years in Japan to call you a native of that region, sorry. (If you can’t claim that you’re the 19th generation descendant of so-and-so, what is your worth?) This sort of tracking is quite easy to do in Japan because we have family registry books that note the genealogy (patriarchal because who needs to remember the names of women) and also serves as a way of establishing citizenship. It’s also fairly common IMHO for the history of a surname to be like, well 1000 years ago this person did something good for the emperor/king so they were granted a gift and the gift was this name and some land. But, I digress. (Trust me, this whole paragraph is hilarious if you’re Japanese with a sense of humor because it’s true.)

Focusing on family names here. No info on their first names as I looked up what were the most common names given to boys in the years the members were born and though their names are common enough, only one of the members have a name in the top 10 most popular boys names for the year they were born. Takashi (same kanji as B-T member; real first name of Toll) was the 9th most common name given to a boy in 1962 (same year as Takashi the drummer). Yutaka gets an honorable mention. Yutaka (same kanji as B-T member) was the 3rd most common name given to a boy in 1962 and 1963; the 6th most common name given to a boy in 1964; the 7th most common name given to a boy in 1965 (Yutaka the bassist was born in 1967). Minor note: though the kanji is different, Atsushi was the 10th most common name given to a boy in 1968 (Atsushi the singer was born in 1966). To the rest of the band members, don’t feel so bad as my name isn’t in the top 10 either! And who can even read child names today. It’s crazy, right? (mic check, um, can I get a chuckle?)

What is not so commonly shared and do not expect to ever know this stuff is the family crest. The family crest is VERY specific to the son that you descended from. Japan be like, “We can’t have each of George Foreman’s kids named George AND have the same family crest!” This ain’t no google search thing. This ain’t no ask a librarian. This is in the family genealogical book and the only people who get to see that is family. Sure, there’s crests online. But don’t think that’s your crest or your favorite celebrity crest. That’s just some common crest that made it’s way to a scanner. Also, if you study a craft, it could be that craft is from a “school” that passes on a pseudonym once you’ve mastered the craft, complete with kanji and crest so unless you know the master’s birth name, you’re not even looking in the right direction. Example, one year someone with the same family name and kanji as mine got really famous in Japan and even made international headlines. Like, you’ve probably heard of this person famous. My mom was curious if we’re related (internet says there’s only 5400 of us so maybe) and while she was visiting relatives, happened to find out that we have different family crests, thus she gave up the search and declared we are not related. (She did not want to bother to go back 19 generations or so to the story of the king who passed out names.., see paragraph 2 above.)

On to the names! For reference, all Buck-Tick members are from Gunma prefecture. Japan has a population of 126,476,461 people. The most common surnames are Satō, Suzuki, Takahashi, Tanaka, Itō, Watanabe, Yamamoto, Nakamura, and Kobayashi. Each of those surnames have over 1,000,000 people with that name residing in Japan. What’s a rare surname? Something with either 1 or 4+ kanji. (Except Hayashi.) They exist but. Really rare surnames? Well, those would be the names the Japanese government declared cannot exist anymore so those names tend to exist only outside of Japan. (Happened to one part of my family so I know this shit exists. Only 460 left. How did they get away with it? And how can I get hanko with this?)

Name info source: https://myoji-yurai.net/

桜井 (sakurai) literal meaning: cherry blossom-well (like a water well) This kanji for Sakurai is ranked #106 for most common surnames in Japan. This is the most common kanji for Sakurai. It is commonly found in Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba prefectures. (Kanto region) For cities, Takasaki, Gunma and Uonuma, Niigata have the most people named Sakurai. Roughly 172,000 people in the entire nation are named 桜井. In Gunma, almost 5% of Kanna town has this surname. Other famous Sakurais? Argh, someone in The Alfee. Better than that, Ao from Cali≠Gari.

櫻井 (sakurai) Same name as above, just different cherry blossom kanji (older version). This kanji for Sakurai is ranked #813 for most common surnames in Japan. It is commonly found in Kanagawa, Aichi, and Chiba prefectures (Kanto and Chubu regions) For cities, Takasaki, Gunma and Akashi, Hyogo have the most people named Sakurai. Roughly 23,600 people in the entire nation are named 櫻井. (The people who couldn’t be sussed to simplify their kanji.) 

今井 (imai) literal meaning: now-well (like a water well) This kanji for Imai is ranked #75 for most common surname in Japan. This is the most common kanji for Imai. It is commonly found in Kanagawa, Saitama, and Aichi prefectures. (Kanto region) For cities, Gero, Gifu and Ichinomiya, Aichi have the most people named Imai. Roughly 212,000 people in the entire nation are named 今井. In Gunma, 20% of Ueno village has this surname. Other famous Imais? Miki Imai, singer, wife to Tomoyasu Hotei. 星野 (hoshino) literal meaning: star-field This kanji for Hoshino is ranked #147 for most common surnames in Japan. This is the most common kanji for Hoshino. It is commonly found in Gunma, Saitama, and Kanagawa prefectures (Kanto region). For cities, Kiryu, Gunma and Nagaoka, Niigata have the most people named Hoshino. Roughly 137,000 people in the entire nation are named 星野. In Gunma, almost 36% of Katashina village has this surname. Other famous Hoshinos? Gen Hoshino wrote a song during the pandemic that got very popular and even Hisashi Imai posted a video of him playing along to that song.

樋口 (higuchi) literal meaning: gutter-mouth This kanji for Higuchi is ranked #132 for most common surnames in Japan. This is the most common kanji for Higuchi. It is commonly found in Fukuoka, Osaka, Niigata, and Kanagawa prefectures (Kansai to Chubu regions) but it’s safe to say it is common throughout all of Japan except for Okinawa. Roughly 146,000 people in the entire nation are named 樋口. In Gunma, there’s roughly 1,000 people named Higuchi in Takasaki and guess where our bassist is from. Other famous Higuchis? How about Yutaka Higuchi the figure skater.

Yagami...the stage name of the drummer. He never writes this in kanji but I imagined that if he did, he would write it as 八神. Or did he write it like that once so that’s why I imagine it that way? Anyway, there’s many possible kanji variations and I was surprised that the most common way to write it is actually 谷上. (For me, I’m like is that Tanuye? Taniue? because I’m Okinawan and we have weird place names.)

[sensitivityreaders]

sensitivity reader

name: Lee Ohara

pronouns: he/him, she/her, they/them

age: 18+

reads for: I am an AFAB genderfluid person of color. I'm specifically mixed, being half Chamorro (hailing from Guam), a quarter Okinawan/Japanese, and a quarter white. I grew up with my Okinawan grandmother majority of the time, so I am more properly knowledgeable about Okinawan/Japanese culture. I'm officially diagnosed with Level 1 Autism, Inattentive Type ADHD (formerly known as ADD), Generalized Depression, Generalized Anxiety, and a dissociative disorder. I'm polyamorous and currently identify as bisexual/questioning lesbian. I grew up poor/come from a low-income household that relied mainly on social security benefits and my parents are divorced and had split custody over me

sensitivity reading:

general questions and discussion: yes in-depth discussion of plots and characters: yes partial read (relevant sections): yes full read: yes

willing to read: original work, fanfiction (my list of fandoms is large enough that it'll be essier to generalize. I consume mainly animanga content and video games in JRPG, Open World Adventure, Otome, or similar genres, like the Persona series, the Tales series, Breath of the Wild, etc. I know very little about live action series), erotica/nsfw/explicit scenes

unwilling to read: Large romantic age gaps in non-fantasy settings (ask for clarification if needed), nail and eye trauma, and animal abuse/abandonment

rates: $0.007 per word, in US Dollars

contact: available upon request

additional notes: Please use tone indicators when speaking with me! I may also ask for clarification of tone regarding a lot of dialogue and in general tend to ask a lot of clarifications so I fully understand context/your intent with your writing. I live in the Pacific Standard Timezone, so please keep that in mind regarding response times as well, though I will try to be as quick as I can in replying

[wearejapanese]

By Akemi Johnson

Akemi Johnson is the author of “Night in the American Village: Women in the Shadow of the U.S. Military Bases in Okinawa.”

When she was a young child, Elizabeth Miki Brina lived in her mother’s homeland of Okinawa, Japan’s southernmost prefecture. She rode on her grandmother’s back, played under the subtropical sun, heard the roar of military jets and spoke Japanese.

Then, her parents moved her to the United States, and she didn’t think about Okinawa for three decades. As she grew up, she spoke only English, knowing nothing of her mother’s history. “Which is to say,” Brina writes, “that I grew up not knowing my mother or myself.”

Brina’s poignant memoir, “Speak, Okinawa,” is the story of her discovery of Okinawa as an adult — and discoveries about her mother and herself. Brina also explores Okinawa as an overlooked piece of the American story in need of hard scrutiny.

Once an independent kingdom, Okinawa was taken over by Japan in 1879. In World War II, it was the site of a brutal battle between the United States and Japan, and as Brina points out, many Americans know of Okinawa only in connection to that battle. But the wartime clash, which decimated the civilian population, wasn’t the end of the United States’ involvement in Okinawa. After the war, the United States occupied Okinawa for 27 years, forcing thousands of Okinawans from their land to build sprawling military facilities. Even after the United States “‘sold’ [Okinawa ] back to Japan” in 1972, the bases remained, Brina writes. Today, about one in eight U.S. servicemembers abroad is stationed in Okinawa. The U.S.-Okinawa relationship has long been a fraught one because of the bases, which many locals protest as sources of noise pollution, traffic and training accidents, and crimes committed by U.S. servicemen.

Brina’s mother was born three years after World War II. Like many Okinawans, her family survived the U.S. occupation by working for the U.S. military — building bases, serving cafeteria food, cleaning barracks. They lived in poverty, eating sweet potatoes for every meal, as military installations took over their island. Brina’s mother dropped out of school in the eighth grade to work in a factory and later became a waitress in a nightclub. By then the Vietnam War was raging, and the U.S. military had turned Okinawa into a weapons depot and rest-and-relaxation destination, with tens of thousands of American troops stopping over on the island.

At the club, Brina’s mother met an American soldier from Manhattan, a college graduate from a wealthy white family. Brina imagines their meeting. He is “Elvis handsome” and seems “like a way out.” “She is beautiful, exotic . . . too vulnerable to resist.”

They married and eventually settled in the suburbs of Rochester, N.Y., where Brina grew up in a 99-percent-white community. In her eyes, her father was her hero, the one with all the answers, who navigated their world with confidence and power. “He knew what to say, and he said it so well,” Brina writes. “His pronunciation was perfect.” Meanwhile, her mother struggled to learn English and seemed “never entirely welcome” in their town, “never [able to] fully participate.” Her mother coped by drinking, sometimes once a month, sometimes once a week, until she passed out. Brina, internalizing the racism of her peers, idolized her father and was “cruel” to her mother. She alternately ignored her and mocked her; she cut up her dresses and kimonos for scraps.

As an adult, Brina contended with her own challenges with drinking and relationships, and began to empathize with her mother’s pain. Visiting her parents one weekend at age 26, she engaged in her “typical rant-exchange” over politics with her father during dinner, the two of them shouting different views and ignoring her mother, who drank two bottles of wine and then crawled under the table. When her mother started screaming and kicking, knocking over glasses, Brina joined her on the floor, curling their bodies together. In earlier days, Brina might have run away, but in that instant she saw that “her trauma is my trauma, that our pain comes from the same source.”

Brina’s curiosity grew, and at age 34, she traveled to Okinawa and began to delve into its history of war, colonialism and survival. In her mother, she began to see strength instead of weakness, the weight of history instead of personal failing. She detected traces of Okinawa’s subjugation in both her own life and her mother’s, in the way they were “fighting to be acknowledged and understood. Fighting to matter.” This battle was most evident in their relationships with men. Brina’s father treated her mother “more like a daughter than a wife.” As a teenager, Brina began believing she must say yes to anything boys and men asked of her. When they found her attractive, she didn’t know “how to channel this attraction toward respect, toward care, toward love.” The memoir becomes a testament to the importance of their lives as Asian women, as mother and daughter, and an apology for all the years Brina thought otherwise.

“Speak, Okinawa” is strongest when Brina is recounting, with piercing candidness and clarity, the almost claustrophobic world of an only child and her parents — their shifting allegiances, the wounds they inflict on each other and their rocky path toward acceptance, apology and forgiveness. The memoir is also a portrait of the devastating effects of imperialism and racism on a person’s identity, self-worth and relationships—and offers a perspective on how a person can combat these legacies.

Read more...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/a-return-to-the-okinawa-she-never-knew/2021/03/31/eb143236-7dd2-11eb-85cd-9b7fa90c8873_story.html

[omoi-no-hoka]

Moderately Interesting Japanese Ep. 8 Hokkaido Dialect

The typical winter scenery of Hokkaido.

One of my favorite aspects of language learning is studying dialects. I am fascinated by how language branches and adapts to new environments like some form of linguistic natural selection. Japanese is rife with interesting dialects, some of which are so different from the standard that they can sound like a totally different language to the untrained ear. I thought I’d make a series of posts highlighting different dialects in Japanese. Since this sort of post will take a bit more research on my end and I plan to find native speakers of the dialect to confirm with, they won’t be very regular, but I hope that you enjoy them!

What are some of the main Japanese dialects?

Firstly, let me tell you how to say “dialect” in Japanese, because I know I’m gonna use it and I don’t want to cause any confusion. 

方言 (hougen) Dialect

___弁 (__-ben) __ Dialect, so “Osaka Dialect” is “Osaka-ben.” 

I daresay that just about 100% of all Japanese learners are familiar with Tokyo-ben, because it is Standard Japanese. The next most popular dialect is Kansai-ben, which is spoken in the Kansai region (Osaka, Hiroshima, etc.). The Kansai Dialect can be broken down into several smaller, regional dialects. Next would probably be Okinawa-ben. 

(Caution! Some people, particularly Okinawans, consider Okinawan Japanese to be a language independent from Japanese, and they can be offended if you refer to it as a dialect. Japan’s official stance is that Okinawan is a dialect, though, so I am calling it a dialect in my posts.) 

Now without further ado, let’s actually start learning about one of these dialects!

Hokkaido-ben, namara ii!

Hokkaido is the island in green. It’s the biggest prefecture in Japan by far.

I am a foreigner and Japanese is not my native language, but I have been living on the island of Hokkaido for 5 years now and am very comfortable with the Hokkaido dialect, so I chose to introduce it to you first. Also, it’s not one that gets talked about a lot, so I figured maybe there weren’t many posts about it. 

Hokkaido is the northernmost island of Japan, and it wasn’t settled and officially incorporated as part of Japan until the late 1800′s. There is a group of indigenous people here called the Ainu who speak a language completely different from Japanese, but their language has not bled into Hokkaido-ben. (Many place names in Hokkaido are from Ainu, though).

Because Hokkaido was settled so late in history compared to the other islands of Japan, their dialect doesn’t differ drastically from Tokyo-ben. There are some minor intonation differences that, frankly, I don’t feel confident explaining. I have internalized the intonations through exposure, but I’ve never been taught it and don’t really know what is correct. So I’m not going to talk about tonal differences, and instead focus on the different words and a wee bit of grammar.

投げる　Nageru

Standard Japanese: 捨てる suteru

English: to dispose of (lit. “to throw/toss”)

To an English speaker, “throw away” feels just as natural as “dispose of.” But to people outside of Hokkaido, it sounds very unusual and the image it conjures is comedic, like someone is hurling trash into the garbage can like it’s the opening pitch at the World Series. 

Example: そこの古い新聞を投げていいよ。 Romaji: Soko no furui shinbun wo nagete ii yo.

Standard: そこの古い新聞を捨てていいよ。 Romaji: Soko no furui shinbun wo sutete ii yo.

English: You can throw away those old newspapers there. 

おっかない　Okkanai

Standard: 危ない abunai

English: dangerous, scary, a “close call”

My hostmom uses this with me, like, all the time. According to her, I’m always doing okkanai things, like walking alone at night or *gasp* going outside with wet hair. I love her so much haha. 

Example: うちの子が熊のぬいぐるみだと思って遊んでいたのは本当の子グマだった。おっかなかったわ！ Romaji: Uchi no ko ga kuma no nuigurumi da to omotte asonde ita noha hontou no koguma datta. Okkanakatta wa!

Standard: うちの子が熊のぬいぐるみだと思って遊んでいたのは本当の子グマだった。危なかったわ！ Romaji: Uchi no ko ga kuma no nuigurumi da to omotte asonde ita noha hontou no koguma datta. Abunakatta wa!

English: Our kid thought he was playing with a teddy bear, but it was actually a live bear cub. What a close call!

（手袋を）履く　(Tebukuro wo) haku

Standard:（手袋を）はめる (tebukuro wo) hameru

English: to put on (gloves)

Winter in Hokkaido is long and cold. Gloves are one of the most essential articles of clothing here, and I have heard/used “haku” so much that “hameru” sounds incorrect to me. The “haku” sounds funny to other Japanese people because it is used for putting on socks, underwear, and pants, and they will imagine you putting socks or panties on your hands instead of gloves. 

Example: 外は寒いから、手袋を履きなさい。 Romaji: Soto ha samui kara, tebukuro wo hakinasai.

Standard: 外は寒いから、手袋をはめなさい。 Romaji: Soto ha samui kara, tebukuro wo hamenasai. 

English: It’s cold out, so put on your gloves. 

めんこい　Menkoi

Standard Japanese: 可愛い kawaii

English: cute

I included this because it’s one of the famous aspects of Hokkaido-ben, but I actually don’t hear it used that much. I tend to see it on souvenir shirts for tourists more than in actual conversations.

Example: この子猫はめっちゃめんこい！ Romaji: Kono koneko ha meccha menkoi!

Standard: この子猫はめっちゃかわいい！ Romaji: Kono koneko ha meccha kawaii!

English: This kitten is super cute!

Note: Even though it is functioning as an adjective and ends with an “i,” it is not an “i” adjective. It is a “na” adjective. 

あずましくない　Azumashikunai

Standard: 居心地が悪い、嫌 igokochi ga warui, iya

English: uncomfortable (surroundings), unpleasant

This is a word that many Hokkaido people use but struggle to explain. Azumashikunai describes any place that you find unpleasant or uncomfortable, maybe due to it being too crowded, or too empty, or because it’s very cramped, for example. 

Example: 日曜日の札幌駅が人混みであずましくない。 Romaji. Nichiyoubi no Sapporo-eki ga hitogomi de azumashikunai.

Standard: 日曜日の札幌駅が人混みで嫌だ。 Romaji: Nichiyoubi no Sapporo-eki ga hitogomi de iya da.

English: Sapporo Station is always crowded on Sundays and I don’t like it.

いずい　Izui

Standard: none

English: different (in a bad way), off-kilter, something is “off”

Hokkaido people really struggle to explain izui because Standard Japanese doesn’t have an equivalent for it, but I think it can be likened to “off” in English. You got something in your eye but can’t find it and your eye feels funny? Your eye is izui. You have a hair in your shirt and can’t find it? That feels izui. Sometimes it can be a mysterious ache not painful enough to warrant a visit to the doctor, or sometimes it can just be a sense that something is “off.” 

Example: 目にゴミが入って、いずい。 Romaji: Me ni gomi ga haitte, izui. 

Standard:目にゴミが入って、痛い。 Romaji: Me ni gomi ga haitte, itai.

English: Something got in my eye and now it feels off. 

汽車　Kisha

Standard: 電車 densha 

English: (train, lit. “steam engine”)

The first time I came to Japan, I could just barely hold down an everyday conversation in Japanese. My hostparents (hostdad especially) both spoke very strong Hokkaido-ben, and during my first meal with them my hostdad asked if I had traveled from the airport to their city by “steam engine,” and I was just baffled. Wait, did he just say locomotive? What year is it? Are steam engines still a thing in Japan?! Then my kind hostmother explained that he meant regular, modern trains. 

Example: すみません、函館ゆきの汽車はいつ出発しますか？ Romaji: Sumimasen, Hakodate-yuki no kisha ha itsu shuppatsu shimasu ka?

Standard: すみません、函館ゆきの電車はいつ出発しますか？ Romaji: Sumimsaen, Hakodate-yuki no densha ha itsu shuppatsu shimasuka?

English: Excuse me, when does the train bound for Hakodate leave the station?

しゃっこい　Shakkoi

Standard: 冷たい Tsumetai

English: Cold

Being the northernmost prefecture and next door to Russia, it’s only natural that Hokkaido-ben have its own word for “cold.” 

Example: このかき氷ってめっちゃしゃっこい！ Romaji; Kono kakigoori tte meccha shakkoi!

Standard: このかき氷ってめっちゃ冷たい！ Romaji: Kono kakigoori tte meccha tsumetai!

English: This shaved ice is super cold!

とうきび　Toukibi

Standard: とうもろこし Toumorokoshi

English: corn

Hokkaido is famous for their sweet corn, and “toukibi” is a word you will hear a lot here as a result. A popular summer snack is corn on the cob with soy sauce and butter, and it’s made just like in the gif above! Japanese people tend to eat it using a toothpick, picking off kernel by kernel. So when I just rocked up, grabbed an ear and started going to town on it, they thought I was a barbarian hahaha.

Example: やっぱり、とうきびに醤油だね！ Romaji: Yappari, toukibi ni shouyu da ne!

Standard: やっぱり、とうもろこしに醤油だね！ Romaji: Yappri, toumorokoshi ni shouyu da ne!

English: Soy sauce really does go good with corn!

なまら　Namara

Standard: とても totemo、結構 kekkou

English: very, super, rather

This word is like “menkoi,” in that it is famous throughout Japan for being Hokkaido-ben, but I rarely hear it in actual conversations. I hear people use it when they are surprised by something. “Namara oishii” has a nuance of “It’s (actually) very tasty.”

Example: 曇ってるけど、今日の天気はなまらいい。 Romaji: Kumotteru kedo, kyou no tenki ha namara ii.

Standard: 曇ってるけど、今日の天気はけっこういい。 Romaji: Kumotteru kedo, kyou no tenki ha kekkou ii.

English: It’s cloudy today, but it’s still pretty good weather.

なんぼ？　Nanbo?

Standard: いくら？ Ikura?

English: How much?

My friend asked me to go get a couple drinks from the convenience store. I came back with a bottle for her and for me and she asked, “Nanbo datta?” I thought that bo was maybe a counter for things, and desperately tried to figure out what we were supposed to be counting. Then she explained that, for whatever reason, “nanbo” means “how much (does something cost)?”

Example: そのお弁当はめっちゃ美味しそう！なんぼだった？ Romaji: Sono obentou ha meccha oishisou! Nanbo datta?

Standard: そのお弁当はめっちゃ美味しそう！いくらだった？ Romaji: Sono obentou ha meccha oishisou! Ikura datta?

English: That bento looks super good! How much was it?

ボケる　Bokeru (for produce)

Standard: 腐る kusaru

English: go bad (produce)

In standard Japanese, “bokeru” means “to go senile” or “to develop dementia/Alzheimer's.” While I wouldn’t say it’s a slur bad enough that it would be bleeped out, it certainly isn’t a kind way to refer to aging. 

So when my host mom told me, “I would give you some apples, but they’re all senile” I had no clue what she was going on about. But then she showed them to me, and they were all wrinkled like this:

Not exactly the most appetizing, but also not entirely rotten. I’m really not sure why Hokkaido-ben likens produce to senility, but if I had to guess, I’d say it’s because pretty much every single person with Alzheimer’s/dementia is wrinkled.

Example: このリンゴはボケてるから、パイでも作ろうか… Romaji: Kono ringo ha boketeru kara, pai demo tsukurou ka...

Standard: このリンゴは腐りかけてるから、パイでも作ろうか… Romaji: Kono ringo ha kusarikaketeru kara, pai demo tsukurou ka...

English: These apples are about to go bad, so I guess I’ll make a pie...

～べ　~be

Standard ～だろう、～でしょう darou, deshou

English: ..., right?

This is probably the most famous aspect of Hokkaido-ben. Japanese people get a real kick out of it when this white girl uses it haha. “~be” is a sentence-ending particle that functions about the same as “darou” or “deshou” in that it:

asserts the speaker’s confidence in the likelihood of something

asks for the listener’s confirmation

This sentence-final particle has its roots in the particle ～べし (~beshi) found in Classical Japanese, which had a similar purpose. Other forms of ~beshi survive in Modern Standard Japanese with the words べき (beki) and すべく (subeku). 

Here are two examples, one for each function ~be fulfills. 

Example 1: 君の飛行機はあと5分に出発するって？間に合わないべ！ Romaji: Kimi no hikouki ha ato 5 fun ni shuppatsu suru tte? Maniawanai be!

Standard: 君の飛行機はあと5分に出発するって？間に合わないでしょう！  Romaji: Kimi no hikouki ha ato 5 fun ni shuppatsu suru tte? Maniawanai deshou!

English: You said your plane takes off in 5 minutes? There’s no way you’ll make it! 

Example 2: このサラダに白菜も入ってたべ？ Romaji: Kono sarada ni hakusai mo haitteta be?

Standard: このサラダに白菜も入ってたでしょう？ Romaji: Kono sarada ni hakusai mo haitteta deshou?

Standard: There was napa cabbage in this salad too, wasn’t there?

～れ　~re

Standard: ～なさい ~nasai

English: imperative command

I really don’t like giving grammar explanations because it’s been a long time since I’ve formally studied Japanese grammar and I’m scared of explaining something poorly or incorrectly. But an upper-elementary level Japanese learner should know that there are many different levels of imperatives in Japanese that vary in politeness. In order of rude to polite, we have:

Imperatives that end in an “e” sound or ろ, as in:

死ね！Shine! Die!

待て！Mate! Wait!

食べろ！Tabero! Eat!

Imperatives that end in tte, te, or de and are not followed by kudasai

死んで Shinde. Die.

待って Matte. Wait.

食べて Tabete. Tabete.

Imperatives that end in nasai. (These are most often used by parents/teachers to their children.)

死になさい Shininasai. Die.

待ちなさい Machinasai. Wait.

食べなさい Tabenasai. Eat.

Imperatives that end in tte, te, or de and have kudasai after them. 

And then there’s super formal Japanese, but that’s a whole other kettle of fish.

Anyways. Back to the Hokkaido-ben. I went to a picnic here with a Japanese friend’s family, and her aunt gave me a plate of food and said, “Tabere!” I knew that this had to be an imperative, but I had never studied it before. It felt like it was the same as the rudest imperative, and I spent the whole rest of the picnic wondering what on earth I had done to have her family speak to me like that. Conventionally, they should have been using the -tte form or -nasai form with me.

After the party, I asked her, “Dude, what’s the ~re stuff for? Do they not like me?” I was close to tears I was so hurt and confused.

And that when she laughed and explained that the ~re is a facet of Hokkaido-ben, and it is the same in politeness and nuance as the ~nasai imperative used by parents and teachers to their children.

So I had spent several hours thinking that her family hated me, when really they were treating me like I was their own child! 

Example: ちゃんと野菜を食べれ！ Romaji: Chanto yasai wo tabere!

Standard: ちゃんと野菜を食べなさい！ Romaji: Chanto yasai wo tabenasai! 

English: Eat all of your vegetables properly.

The End!

This was a monster of a post. There are actually a few more words I wanted to introduce, but I had to cut it off at some point haha. I hope that you enjoyed this segment of Moderately Interesting Japanese. I plan to make more on the other dialects within Japanese, but they will take a considerable amount of time so they won’t be very often. 

Thanks for reading!

[littleeyesofpallas]

Guilty Gear has always been a series just dripping with style thanks to the wildly varied talents and tastes of Ishiwatari Daisuke.  But in the sizable cast of rock’n’roll and heavy metal inspired fighters, one of my all time favorite designs has been the dramatic redesign of Baiken in Guilty Gear Xrd.  Let me break down why!

So starting with her design in general, the origin story goes that Ishiwatari Daisuku saw an illustration of Himura Kenshin, from the manga Rurouni Kenshin, and liking the design, but mistaking Kenshin for a woman, based Baiken’s early art off of that.  Her earliest art seems pretty in line with that, right down to the red hair, but notably that hair changed colors, shifting towards more of a deep pink.  Her name, Baiken [梅喧] is written with the kanji meaning “Plum” and ”Noisy/Uproarious.”

Like many flowering plants, the word can refer directly to either the fruit, the tree, or the flower; and many common girls names in Japanese use the names of flower.  The name Baiken thus reads as a kind of self descriptor, communicating the idea of a “Loud & rambunctious woman.”  The plum blossom is also where her hair color and various emblazoned clothing designs come from.

 Her one-eyed, one-armed swordswoman gimmick is also a direct reference to a number of sources.  Initially the overt reference in her design is to the character Tange Sazen, a character from a series of films from the 30s, 50s, and 60s.  (themselves, spinoffs of a serial novel from the 20s.)  But there have also been three Lady Sazen films, further spinoffs depicting a genderbent version of the iconic character.

In her updated Xrd design, she covers her scarred eye with a curious kind of accessory: a katana crossguard (tsuba) under the lens of a single-eyed aviator goggle.  The eyepatch is a reference to another famous swordsman character, Yagyuu Juubei.  Unlike Sazen, Juubei was in fact a real historical figure, although much of his reputation is built upon folk lore or pure fiction.  Juubei has become a name synonymous with eyepatch wearing swordsmen (sometimes samurai, sometimes ninja), whether they are meant to be the legendary character himself, or simply named after him.  And the distinctive tsuba eyepatch is derived from his portrayal by martial arts actor Sonny Chiba in various chanbara films and TV shows from the 70s and 80s.

The aviator goggles are a bit more obtuse, in part because they aren’t entirely accurate, but the flight goggles (as well as the combat boots) are evocative of Japan’s kamikaze pilots.  The small issue is that the WWII model goggles were larger and rounder, where as the particular flat angled lens are more distinctive of the British RAF.  The combat boots, also evoking a bit of a soldier aesthetic, are cut into sandals in the style of a samurai’s suneate and waraji.

But of course the most noticeable addition to her wardrobe is the school uniform she wears over her shoulders like a half-cape.  The school uniform itself is an older, and nowdays lesser used, style called a gakuran; once a fairly ubiquitous style, in modern Japan it’s relegated to middle schoolers, rather than high schoolers.  The particular open style of it however is derived from equally outdated Yankii and Banchou aesthetics: a kind of high school delinquent archetype that was popular in manga and even film in the 70s and 80s.  Of note here is that she still leans on the Banchou look with the boys’ uniform, and not something from the image of the Sukeban (the girl gang archetype of the same era) lending her a bit of an androgynous vibe. (one somewhat unfortunately offset by her enormous breasts.)

She’s also sporting a fun skull design that is a pretty obvious attempt at a legally distinct spin on the Misfits logo.  It’s a nice way to compliment the delinquent theme while also tying her to the Punk genre.  Most of the Guilty Gear cast are themed around various rock bands and musicians, but Baiken has always been one of just a handful that are curiously non-musically themed.  Kind of a shame they don’t throw more of the Horror Punk aesthetic in there, though.

Additionally, while she wears a pretty normal looking kimono and kind of silly sarashi (the body wrap that confusingly ISN’T binding her gigantic breasts into place), her belt and makeshift half-cape are tied with a kind of braided and tasseled cord called a Fusa-himo.  A Fusa-himo is generally not an article of clothing; it can be used in decoration and for binding a sword sheathe, but as clothing it’s generally considered a synonym for a western aiguillette, used in military uniforms.  I can’t really tell if its more evocative of a soldier or of a katana decoration in the way it’s used here.

And speaking of accessories, just a handful of other little samurai goodies that really give her character some flavor and texture:

Samurai strut: a distinctive chin up(looking down on others), chest out swagger originating in the character acting of Kabuki theater, but taken more directly from the body language of actors on film in classic chanbara film.

Tatami-Gaeshi: “Mat block.”  A film cliche of samurai and ninja fiction where an ambushed warrior upturns a tatami mat from the floor of the room he’s in to defend himself.

Nuguigami: Wiping paper used in traditional sword cleaning (which she of course has to used with her mouth, mixed with the Falling Paper/Leaves/Silk cutting cliche from samurai fiction.

Kiseru: The traditional Japanese tobacco pipe with metal bowl and mouthpiece.  The Kabuki-mono (a sub-culture of gaudy, rowdy, and generally socially disruptive samurai in the 1500-1600s) were known to carry large Kiseru as one of their many ways of showing off, but given how prone to bar brawls they were, it was said some were so large (and considering their metal components) they could be used to fend off attacks from a sword. 

Hyoutan: The hollowed Calabash gourd used to store sake.

Manriki & Tekko-kagi: The weighted chain weapon and hand claw she keeps concealed in her empty sleeve.

Kanabou: In her Xrd design, the simple metal claw was changed into an iron club with retractable clawed joints.

O-zutsu & Taihou: Her lacquered handcannon and full size cannon that she pulls out of her loose sleeve.

The fullsized cannon is decorated with a Shisa head: an Okinawan guard dog statue, related to the Chinese lion-dogs, but identifiable by its distinctive tightly curled mane pattern.

[pastelpoison88]

PastelPoison’s Witches Story

So I thought of this after I saw a Medieval Warriors M.A.P on “Song of the Witches” by S. J. Tucker and now am finally going to write it down.

I was thinking about witches all over the world, not just Western interpretations of witches and such (I have no idea about modern witches) and had never heard of witches from anywhere but the west and basically this is how my story would go if I had the time to write one.

BTW: I talk about myself a lot but just know that these are my frustrations of being a multi-racial person trying to figure out some of my roots on my own.

Though it wasn’t the first thing I thought of, it’s best for me to write down what the world is like for the sake of organization:

Time period has to sort of make sense (ex. While this is happening in Japan in 1400 AD, that is happening in Europe around the same time)

Attitudes have to make sense (ex. two groups are racist towards each other, female homosexuality is more accepted than male homosexuality, mild sexism)

Demographics have to make sense (ex. no one of African descent is going to be in Japan in 1400 AD [unless it’s our traveling cast of characters] and no one is going to be trans and not looked at like a freak, even by our main cast [tsk, tsk; shame, shame]) 

Keep in mind: I’m trying to explore what witchcraft is in other cultures so how should I make my characters meet? (ex. slave trade, running away)

-----------------

First thing I think about is my characters and 1) my main one, or at least the one that shares (most of) my cultural background, is Japanese. Before even thinking about this, the most I had ever heard of Japanese witchcraft was about this dog demon in a temple in a Japanese murder-suicide graveyard near Honolulu who bit a Filipino man who got very sick and couldn’t be healed because he wasn’t Japanese. And so I did some of my own research but the most common “witch” I could find were people who hired foxes. There was some mention of snake employers but I could never find any reading material that goes in-depth. Also, I want this character to be a reflection of me, I’m mostly Okinawan (25% Okinawan to 4% Northern Japanese, a very unbalanced ratio) but if I have to make her fully Japanese for the sake of keeping her simple enough I will. 

So, “Yuki” is a simple name and a memorable one and I also imagined a picture of Yuki-onna that I saw once whenever I thought of the character so that’s her name for now. And I will alter some stuff in the story as long as I can explain the alteration, so if people don’t turn into animals in the origin story but do in mine, I should be able to explain why I didn’t stick with it, this is basically a fanfic.

Witch by association (has a tsukimono as a familiar/pet) [+also might have it possess her at some point if it fits]

Very close to her family but the relationship with her community is strained due to being slightly wealthier and also being part of a tsukimono-suji. Otou-san is still in charge but Okaa-san is the one that is more than happy to get back at you if you mess with the family business simply because she can get away with it. And letting it be known to any outsiders that there’s a spirit helping out, not that good when you’re looking to support your family. It didn’t help that Obaa-san is from the Ryukyu Kingdom and works with her hands, often exposing the odd tattoos that she wore. 

Eventually is the sole survivor of a massacre.

Overall is a neutral character, going her own way, not trying to change or dismantle society (just doesn’t want to be in one)

-------------------

2) The second and third characters I know I want to be European, one female and the other male because the first and second verses of the song are sung by females (I don’t know if it’s another woman or her putting on a different voice, but it’s definitely female) and the last is sung by a guy.

I’ll put the guy down first, his name is... I don’t even got a name for him yet. “Lennox” he used to live in an elm forest, just roll with it.

I had a druid in mind when I was thinking about him but Druids disappeared when the Roman Empire took over so instead he’s a scholar. He knows a lot about astronomy, plants, herbs, law, religion, geography, trying to get him as close to a druid as I can.

He’s from Soctland (whether to have him be Scottish or Irish really tripped me up so just bear with me here). He can speak English and Gaelic.

Overall good guy, wise teacher, oldest member of the group

----------------------

3) The female European. “Minerva”

Basically what first pops into your head whenever you think of a witch. 

Looks normal, my vanilla witch. Just your average white girl in whatever time in whatever village.

Doesn’t always have the best intentions and usually has less than stellar results 

------------------------

4) The Little African Girl. I don’t really have an official name as she’s more of an idea at the moment than an actual character so I just gave her a title.

Represents regular people who perhaps seeks the help of witches

More of side character as she doesn’t stick with the group but engages in business with them against some sort of tyranny to save her family, community, friend, etc.

-------------------------

5) “Tyranny” S.J. Tucker says in the song that the witches fight against tyranny and I only thought of one character representing tyranny but perhaps there will be multiple forms of tyranny as I expand on this (if I expand on this).

But the one I have in mind so far is the Little African Girl’s rival. Some sort of corrupt leader or evil witch. 

-------------------------

6) Others I’ve thought of:

Hawaiian witch (I’ve been surrounded by Hawaiian culture my entire life but have only recently heard of Hawaiian witchcraft. It’s sort of like skinwalkers from what I’m told: the more you talk about the more it comes closer to you. Also in Hawaii: you’re not supposed to outright say that someone’s wrong, they’ve just been taught differently “maika’i” [good/fine/alright] so if I’m writing down too much detail or not enough, hopefully this answer will satisfy you) The forbidden portion is this martial art but every family is tied to the Gods and certain spirits (aumakua).

Gypsies (might be a racist stereotype but I want a crystal ball with a ghost inside it)

Australian Aboriginals (a culture I know nothing about, have only learned about in the last three months, and want to research more of)

Native Americans (again, a culture I know nothing about besides wendigos and skinwalkers)

Voodoo 

Also I should mention: sometimes there’s going to be two characters representing the same type of witchcraft but going against each other just to balance everything out.

Sources

Witchcraft in Japan: The Roots of Magical Girls - https://www.cavernacosmica.com/witchcraft-in-japan-the-roots-of-magical-girls/

Encyclopedia of Shinto - Tsukimono - http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=792

The Yuta, The Noro, and The “Okinawan Witch Trials” - https://www.tofugu.com/japan/yuta-noro-okinawa-witch-trials/

The Romans and the Druids - https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/ancient-rome/the-romans-and-the-druids/

To be continued?

[softsoundingsea]

Little Moments

I would like to write this in Japanese when I have the vocabulary to do so but I want to share this story because it really made me smile!

I recently came back from a trip visiting family in Japan but I also took the time to see some friends of mine. 

My friend and I were looking for a place to eat for dinner after they arrived in Kyoto and we ended up settling on this semi-cheap hole in the wall gyoza restaurant. We invited our newly made Indonesian friend to come with us, too. 

The restaurant was being run by a mother and her son that night. The son was incredibly kind and talked with us a little, answering our questions about the food before we ordered it. While we waited for our food, my friends and I started talking to each other in English. Which, I guess from an outsiders view in Japan may have looked somewhat strange? A multi-ethnic but mono-racial Japanese-Okinawan person (me) speaking with someone who was mixed race Japanese (my friend) and our other friend (Indonesian) must have been somewhat startling. My friend was the main person giving our orders or asking questions with the son. The son even made comment that he had thought I was Japanese (ie a Japanese national) and my friend and I talked a little about being Nikkei. 

It must have piqued the interest of the mother because she came out of the kitchen to talk with us after our food came out. And I’m so glad she did. Turns out she was from China (in the area a little above North Korea) and her husband was Japanese-Chinese and they met when the husband was in China; her son was also Japanese-Chinese but grew up in Japan and he related to our conversations of not knowing one of our heritage languages among other things!

It was really quite lovely because they felt comfortable sharing that information with us and talking about it and we got such a great conversation out of it. I also really enjoyed this interaction because my friend and I had been conversing about Nikkei identities only a day or two before. It was such a great unexpected encounter and I got to speak a little bit of Japanese.