1
Favorite Japanese Words
Posted by mountainoluv,
02 May 2014
·
1745 views
Ai Kago Rika Ishikawa Aya Matsuura Asuka Hinoi aMI TOKITO Koharu Kusumi Mari Yaguchi Makoto Ogawa Mini Moni Hinoi Team
I’d like to switch gears with this post. My aim is to have fun! OK, so, without any further ado, here is my topic . . . MY FAVORITE JAPANESE WORDS! 
My #1 favorite would have to be ‘doki doki.’ It means ‘fast beating heart,’ or ‘heart palpitations.’ It seems to come in handy for lyricists, one can hear it frequently in songs. Consider “Night of Fire” by Hinoi Team. I believe there was also an anime called “Doki Doki.” Another favorite of mine is ‘tokimeku,’ or is it ‘dokimeki’? This also shows up in “Night of Fire,” as well as a million other songs. It means ‘to fall in love’ or ‘to get excited.’ [As an aside, this seems kind of weird to me. These are very different things in English!] A third Japanese word I’d like to feature is ‘seishun,’ which means ‘youth.’ When I think about this word, my mind immediately jumps to the single “Seishun Boku” by Mari Yaguchi. I think it is also in a Hinoi Team song (is it “Summertime”?). This is another word that you hear often in songs. I read somewhere that songwriters in Japan are obsessed with youth.
For our next fave Japanese word, let’s go with ‘sugoi.’ It means ‘amazing.’ I can’t think of a song that has this word as a lyric. I hear it occasionally on YouTube videos, however. Like, imagine a group of cute Japanese girls on a TV show, and the host shows them something amazing, like a prairie dog. You can almost guarantee that one of them is going to exclaim, “Sugoi!” I like ‘odoro,’ which means ‘dance.’ I can think of this showing up in “Mr. Moonlight” by Morning Musume. It also appears in songs by Hinoi Team. Wasn’t there an H!P shuffle group that featured ‘odoro’ prominently in their single?
Another word I probably should have mentioned earlier is ‘genki,’ meaning ‘enthusiastic, healthy, and of good cheer.’ In “Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari,” ex-Morning Musume member Makoto Ogawa
was highlighted for being ‘genki.’ Also, they use ‘genki’ in “Sticky Tricky and Bang,” by Hinoi Team. (Excuse me for using so many examples from Hinoi Team. I have their “Super Euro Party” CD, and I play it over and over in my car, ha ha!) The lyrics go “Hey girl genki! [insert Japanese words here] Hey boy genki!” As I mentioned in a previous post, I watched a video of Morning Musume arriving at LAX for the 2009 Anime Expo. Koharu Kusumi was the most genki, by far.I also like ‘zutto zutto,’ as in “Aiyai! Aiyai! Zutto zutto . . .” by aMI TOKITO
. I regret that I don’t know what that means. (If somebody would clue me in about this, I’d appreciate it.) I like ‘matsuri,’ meaning ‘festival.’ The place I think of for this “Mini Moni, Hina Matsuri!”, or “Mini Moni, Girl Festival!” I’d also like to note that I went to a show in Las Vegas a few years back called “Matsuri.” It had some highly skilled Japanese athletes and acrobats. It was great!I like ‘minna.’ This means ‘everybody.’ They use ‘minna’ in “Genki Jirushi no Oomori.” Oh, this is another one that uses ‘genki.’ It shows how ubiquitous it is. A nice thing about “Genki Jirushi no Oomori” is that all five members appear in the video. The costumes are nice, and the girls look so good! I remember a scene from the film “Kill Bill.” The Lucy Liu character was addressing a group of Japanese mobsters. She says, “Minna-san: . . .” I thought that was kind of funny.
OK, another favorite is ‘chicha,’ as in ‘tiny.’ Remember the Mini Moni live TV show? They would get in a circle and crouch down, facing the center. Then, as they straightened out, they would cry, “Mini Moni . . . Chicha!” The translation on YouTube would be “Mini Moni . . . is tiny!” It’s just another cute and likeable thing about Mini Moni. Oh, and they use ‘chicha’ in the song “Lucky Cha Cha Cha.” (By the way, aren’t the promotional videos for “Lucky Cha Cha Cha” great? There is the story version and the close up version, both of which are classic.) Another time that word came into my consciousness is in the song “Emoticons” by Hinoi Team. This song also contains another of my favorite Japanese words: ‘itsudemo.’ This means ‘all the time.’ It appears in another Hinoi Team song, “Just for Me.” It goes, “Itsudemo . . . doki doki . . .” I guess you can tell why I like Hinoi Team, ha ha! There is another word, ‘itsumo,’ which may be related, that I like as well. Oh, and there is a word in “Play With the Numbers” by Hinoi Team that I like. It sounds like ‘donkey mall,’ or ‘doki maw’ or something. Anyway, I have no clue what it means.
In closing, I’d like to mention two more Japanese words I get a kick out of. One is ‘chu,’ which is the sound of a kiss. Can you think of a song with ‘chu’ in it? How about “Chu chu, chu chu chu, summer party . . “? It’s the classic song by 3-nin Matsuri, the shuffle group with Rika Ishikawa, Ai Kago, and Aya Matsuuri. OK, I guess I will close now, while I’m ahead (or behind, depending on your perspective). I welcome any comments you may have. I am especially interested in the words I don’t know the meaning of, but if you want to share your fave Japanese words, that would be cool, too!
You have an interesting set of words you like
I love Chu and Doki Doki too! I also like Kira Kira~ I seem to like all the cute sounding ones
And for some reason, I like "Hontoni". It just sounds nice too say despite it not really meaning anything special
My least favorite would be "Sotsugyo" /shot