Elderly Japanese man suing Broadcaster over "excessive use of English"

A disgruntled viewer is suing Japan's national broadcaster for "mental distress" caused by an excessive use of words borrowed from English. Hoji Takahashi, 71, is seeking 1.4 million yen ($14,300; £9,300) in damages from NHK. "The basis of his concern is that Japan is being too Americanised," his lawyer Mutsuo Miyata told the news agency AFP.

Mr Takahashi, who is a member of a campaign group supporting the Japanese language, highlighted words such as "toraburu" (trouble), "risuku" (risk) and "shisutemu" (system) in NHK's news and entertainment programmes. He accused NHK of irresponsibility by refusing to use native Japanese equivalents. "With Japanese society increasingly Americanised, Takahashi believes that NHK, as Japan's national broadcaster, shouldn't go with the trend, but remain determined to prioritise the use of Japanese, which he thinks would go a long way toward protecting Japanese culture," Mr Miyata told the Japan Times on Wednesday. Mr Takahashi filed his complaint on Tuesday with the Nagoya District Court in the central Chubu region of Japan, the newspaper said. NHK said it would not comment until it had studied the legal documents. Other examples of English words often used in Japanese include: telebi (TV) lajio (radio) kompulaianse (compliance) kolaborasion (collaboration) dejitaru (digital) taoru (towel) Vocabulary is also borrowed from other foreign languages. The German "arbeit" becomes "arubaitois" to mean work, and the Spanish "pan" is understood as bread.

His view is inept for two reasons. First, study of language evolution shows that adoption of other terms is a sign of cultural strength, not weakness. Second, from the point of view of someone wanting to freeze their culture into a prior form- a ridiculous notion in any case- trying to do this by language manipulation will fail, as all previous attempts have failed. Language reflects the culture, it does not create it (not in that sense anyway). If the Japanese are using more Americanisms and the like, that's a reflection of how the culture is changing. Trying to stamp out the symptoms of that will not deal with the underlying cause- and it's like trying to hold back the tide anyway.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
His view is inept for two reasons. First, study of language evolution shows that adoption of other terms is a sign of cultural strength, not weakness. Second, from the point of view of someone wanting to freeze their culture into a prior form- a ridiculous notion in any case- trying to do this by language manipulation will fail, as all previous attempts have failed. Language reflects the culture, it does not create it (not in that sense anyway). If the Japanese are using more Americanisms and the like, that's a reflection of how the culture is changing. Trying to stamp out the symptoms of that will not deal with the underlying cause- and it's like trying to hold back the tide anyway.

But I think the fact that the man is asking for such a small sum shows that this is a symbolic protest more than anything.

That's the normal pattern outside of Europe, particularly in languages with a different writing system where just taking the word entire is not so straightforward.

English and French have been nicking words whole off each other for many centuries.

I guess America isn't the only place that's sue happy

These borrowed words just sound phony as all hell. Why don't they use native Japanese variants? Don't tell me they don't have Japanese words for "risk" and "trouble", etc.

Originally posted by ArtificialGlory
These borrowed words just sound phony as all hell. Why don't they use native Japanese variants? Don't tell me they don't have Japanese words for "risk" and "trouble", etc.

Originally posted by ArtificialGlory
These borrowed words just sound phony as all hell. Why don't they use native Japanese variants? Don't tell me they don't have Japanese words for "risk" and "trouble", etc.

For instance, there are words in English to express "bon appetit," but because bon appetit sounds better than "good appetite" or "good eating" we use bon appetit.

You also can't forget that English is a status language in most of the world. It's the language of diplomacy and pop culture. For lack of a better word, English is "cool"

I held the door for a Japanese guy the other day. He said "Sank you" to which I replied "No need to brag about pearl harbor".

Originally posted by Omega Vision
But I think the fact that the man is asking for such a small sum shows that this is a symbolic protest more than anything.

He probably has some level of senility and believes $14,000 is a lot of money, like it was back in the 40's.

How is this surprising? Does anyone need to be reminded about what the Japanese did the very first time they got sick of Western Culture "invading" their shores? Hideyoshi and his successors put their contemporary, Ivan The Terrible and Vlad Dracula one hundred years earlier to shame.

They also had samurai, who were the noblest of all people to walk the Earth since Jesus killed Judas with a katana. Samurai negate anything bad about Japan.

Originally posted by Darth Jello
their contemporary, Ivan The Terrible and Vlad Dracula one hundred years earlier to shame.

That's like saying we're contemporaries of Rasputin.

Originally posted by Omega Vision
If there's a century's difference, then they're not contemporaries.

That's like saying we're contemporaries of Rasputin.

As for Samurai, I feel like rather than blind admiration, people should read history and what happened as opposed to admiring Bushido blindly and giving too much credence to the popular view, which is essentially the view of the Japanese nobility. Romanticize the concept if you'd like, but don't forget that when you get right down to it, the Samurai were just a bunch of mafia-style thugs fighting out petty disputes between lords in high castles while keeping the peasantry oppressed. They're guilty of as much pillaging, rape, and genocide as their European counterparts.

I don't get what that has to do with this frail, old Japanese man not understanding English so good though...

I'm saying that this isn't surprising because the Japanese culture has a long history of Xenophobia related to a supposed corruption of their traditions, especially against Europeans.

This old man's lawsuit isn't logical but it isn't necessarily out of place either.

Originally posted by Darth Jello
I'm saying that this isn't surprising because the Japanese culture has a long history of Xenophobia related to a supposed corruption of their traditions, especially against Europeans.

This old man's lawsuit isn't logical but it isn't necessarily out of place either.

It's also not surprising cause the exact same (and somewhat fringe) tendencies of "protecting the language" can be found all over Europe (France being one of the most extreme examples), we have these tendencies in Germany as well and a disdain for what is called "Denglish", as well as in the US (especially towards Spanish) and probably absolutely everywhere else.

Hardly evidence of Japan's xenophobia, if anything it is a sign of the opposite, as there is a lot of inclusion and assimilation of foreign words in Japanese and the broadcast media embraces it. (although there is immense xenophobia in Japan, not denying that, your argument just isn't sound).

I recently read a book about this subject - Japanese wanting to stay pure, but having to deal with the popularity of some American things... fictional, but pretty true to life.
"American Fuji."

Well and then there's that movie with Sean Connery where he knows all the ins and outs of courtesy.

I know they're entertainment, but art usually imitates life.

Like "Birth of a Nation" and "Triumph of the Will"

Oh please. Birth of a Nation was just trying to show us how people used to be really creative with their sheets.