Japanese are Not Only Diligent

February 5th, 2013By Category: Uncategorized

Japanese are Not Only Diligent
日本人は勤勉なだけではありません

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Click here to Audio [Part 1]

Many non-Japanese seem to have an image of Japanese as a diligent and serious race who don’t tell many jokes. But in fact Japanese are very fond of laughter. Japan has traditional forms of comedy such as kyougen, rakugo and manzai.

多くの外国人が日本人に対して、ジョークをあまり言わない勤勉でまじめな国民であるというイメージを持っているようです。しかし、実際の日本人はお笑いが大好きです。日本には狂言、落語、漫才などの伝統的なお笑いの文化があります。

In addition, comedy programs are broadcast on TV every day. Senryu, which is humorous version of haiku, the shortest form of poetry in the world, is very popular. Newspaper, TV and radio programs hold senryu contests and many readers / viewers / listeners of all ages compete by contributing works.

そればかりか、テレビでは、毎日お笑い番組が放送されています。世界で一番短い詩、俳句のユーモア版である川柳は大人気です。新聞やテレビ、ラジオの番組は川柳コンテストを設け、若者から年配者までの読者、視聴者が投稿して作品を競い合っています。

Click here to Audio [Part 2]

The other day a young man smoking a cigarette was walking in front of me on the street. After a while he threw his cigarette butt away on the pavement and kept walking. This was dangerous as it was still lit.
Then an old man who had been walking after him picked it up and approached him, tapping him on the shoulder.

先日、道路でたばこを吸っている若者が私の前を歩いていました。しばらくすると、彼は短くなったたばこを歩道に捨て歩き続けました。火がついたままで危険です。すると若者の後を歩いていた高齢者がそれを拾い、その若者に近づいて肩をたたきました。

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I felt tense observing the situation. This is because recently there have been cases when a young person has been told off in which they react violently to the person telling them off. The old man smiled and said to the young man, “Here. You dropped this.” The young man bashfully received and said, “Thank you.” Without thinking about it I laughed.

私は緊張して見守りました。最近若者が注意されたときに注意をした人に暴力をふるう事件が起きているからです。その高齢者はにこりとして、若者に言いました。「これ、落し物です」と。若者は照れながら受け取り、「すみません」と言いました。私は、思わず笑ってしまいました。

Click here to Audio [Part 3]

There are many other instances in which humor can peacefully settle a difficult problem. People kept leaving their bicycles outside of a store that was located close to the station. The store owner put up a sign that read, “Don’t leave your bicycles in front of our store.” But it didn’t work.

他にもユーモアでやっかいな問題をなごやかに収めた例はいくつもあります。駅に近いある店の前に、多くの人が自転車を止めていました。店の主人が「自転車を店の前に止めないで下さい」と書いた看板を立てましたが、効果がありません。

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One day the long suffering store owner changed the warning notice. After this, nobody left their bicycles there. It reads, “The bicycles left here have been abandoned, so please feel free to take them.”

ある日長い間困っていた店主は警告文を変えました。すると、店の前に自転車を止める人はいなくなりました。そこには、こう書かれていました。「ここに止めてある自転車は捨てられたものです。ご自由にお持ち下さい」と。

Author of this article

Hiragana Times

*Revolutionary multi-level Japanese texts with audio!*
Hiragana Times is a truly unique magazine in which you can study a language while learning about Japan. Each Japanese paragraph is followed by its English translation or vise versa, and furigana are placed above each kanji to make Japanese study even easier.

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Multi-level Japanese texts information:
www.hiraganatimes.com/about/multi-level-hiragana-texts/

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Comments

  • leslie nguyen says:

    I heard that it may be humor, however it’s not too funny. Interesting read though.

  • zoomingjapan says:

    I’m not a big fan of variety shows in Japan.
    Often it’s not my kind of humor. But I agree that Japanese are not only diligent.
    We joke around a lot at my workplace as well and the majority of my co-workers is Japanese!

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