I’ve been killing time this holiday enjoying some random videos on Google Video. I thought I’d share some interesting videos in Japanese in case anybody was looking for a fun way to study this holiday. Somebody was diligent enough to put English subtitles on the videos so you can enjoy them even if you don’t feel like studying Japanese.

Sushi Documentary

The first video is a “documentary” about sushi. And the word “documentary” is in quotes for a very good reason. It starts out like this.

寿司。日本の代表的スナック。それが寿司です。この寿司を食べるショップが寿司屋です。日本人のほとんどがこの店を毎日利用しています。

女性が男性に注ぎ、女性は自分で注ぎます。なるほど。侍の国ですね。

It’s quite amusing and represents, in my opinion, the image that some foreigners have regarding Japan. I remember, before I knew anything about Japan, that I used to think that Japanese was a country with very strict rules such as the appropriate angle for bowing.

The narrator speaks in a very clear, standard Japanese so people learning Japanese in a classroom should have no trouble with the style. Anyway, here are a few comments and corrections just in case.

1. Most of the Japanese population cannot afford to eat sushi everyday.
2. That’s way too much soy-sauce on the sushi. （Soy-sauce, by the way, is called 「醤油」（しょうゆ）. Sometimes, it’s written as 「正油」.）
3. The wet napkin given out in restaurants to wipe your hands is actually called 「おしぼり」 and not 「雑巾」（ぞうきん）, which is a cloth used to clean around the house. 「おしぼり」 comes from the verb 「絞る」（しぼる）, which means to squeeze. I presume it’s because the excess water is squeezed from the cloth.

地球戦隊 フレッシュメン

Here’s another funny video featuring Shingo Katori （香取慎吾） from Smap, a “talent” group you can’t avoid here in Japan (as much as I try). This video features quite a lot of slang so those of you who learned Japanese on the streets should have no trouble. Here’s how it starts.

高校ん時の親友は、俺にこう言った。「ちょうだい？これ。お前っていいやつだよな。」　だからってわけじゃないけど、俺だって、自分のことを悪いやつなんて思ってなかった。地球を滅ぼすほどの悪いやつだなんて。

I intend to cover some of the expressions in the video such as 「というか」 and 「じゃん」 so make sure to subscribe to the feed.

I hope you find the videos as amusing as I did!