Japanese Language Blog

Tsukimi (月見) is a very low key festival. It’s celebrated on the 15^th of the eight month on the lunar calendar. It’s said that the 15^th of the eighth month is when the moon is the brightest and fullest.  People go outside to see the moon, and as you can see, it’s very visible in the dark :

A common tradition is to make white, round, sweet dumplings called tsukimi dango (月見団子); which are made in the shape of a round moon.

If you’re wondering what those round, brown things were in the video, those were chestnuts. The 15^th of the eighth month on the lunar calendar is a day of large harvests. The chestnuts symbolize the plentiful harvest.

Enka (演歌) music is a combination of Jazz, Blues and traditional Japanese music. Enka music is especially popular with the postwar generation in Japan. To this generation, Enka songs bring back some of the nostalgia of the “good old days” as well as memories of hardship and poverty.

Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎) is considered the first Enka singer. His hit song was “Wakare no Ipponsugi” (別れの一本杉,) which means “Farewell One Cedar”.

Hibari Misora (美空ひばり) is the queen of Enka music. My favorite song sung by her is Ringo Oiwake (リンゴ追分) or Apple Forked Road.

Jero (ジェロ) is an African American of Japanese descent. He’s dressed like a rapper, but as you can see in “Umiyuki” (海雪) (Ocean Snow), he has the “Enka voice”.

You may not like Enka music, but at one time Enka music dominated the Japanese music industry. So historically, it was an important pop culture phenomenon.

The soft drink market in Japan is huge, and so is the money invested in soft drink commercials. Here are my favorite soft drinks and their respective commercials.

Calpis (カルピス) is a milky white soft drink. I love this commercial because it’s funny. The girl is acting out a dialogue where she pretends she is talking to the person she likes. Watch what happens:

Oronamin  C Drink (オロナミンCドリンク) is a carbonated health drink. The Oronamin C Drink commercials often feature Japanese star Aya Ueto (上戸 彩) like in this funny commercial :

Pocari Sweat (ポカリスエット) is a sports drink. The commercials for Pocari Sweat often feature someone who engages in strenuous physical activity and drinks Pocari Sweat to cool off :

I hope you’ve enjoyed watching these commercials. You know, watching Japanese commercials can help you understand the nuances of a culture, like what’s considered funny, or what’s considered politically correct. In some cases, you don’t have to know a lot of Japanese to know what’s going on.