Loanwords from the Japanese language in Hawaii appear in various parts of the culture. Many

loanwords A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...

in Hawaiian Pidgin (or Hawaiian Creole English) derive from the

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...

. The linguistic influences of the

Japanese in Hawaii The Japanese in Hawaii (simply Japanese or “Local Japanese”, rarely Kepanī) are the second largest ethnic group in Hawaii. At their height in 1920, they constituted 43% of Hawaii's population. They now number about 16.7% of the islands' ...

began with the first immigrants from Japan in 1868 and continues with the large

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

population in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

today.

Background

There are other Japanese words common among the Japanese American population (such as "okazu" and "obaachan"), but not as well-known among Hawaii's general population. Such words have not been included here, nor have Japanese words which have entered the English language on a national level, such as "

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

," ( :ja:アニメ) "

karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music is ...

," ( :ja:カラオケ) "

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They ...

," ( 侍) and "

sushi is a Japanese dish of prepared , usually with some sugar and salt, accompanied by a variety of , such as seafood, often raw, and vegetables. Styles of sushi and its presentation vary widely, but the one key ingredient is "sushi rice," also ...

" ( :ja:寿司). Hawaii is also unique in the United States in that Japanese loanwords often retain Japanese pronunciation, as in the tapped "r" sound even in words that have entered the American English dictionary such as "

" and "

karate (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fuj ...

." However, as several varieties of Japanese cultural influence in the US in general has increased over the years, it has further bolstered the uses of Japanese terminology in Hawaii. Japanese food has increased in popularity and availability, most notably in the

history of sushi The history of began with paddy fields, where fish was fermented with vinegar, salt and rice, after which the rice was discarded. The earliest form of the dish, today referred to as , was created in Japan around the Yayoi period (early Neolith ...

in the US and Top Ramen, plus in the 21st century, ramen restaurants. Poke restaurants, centered around the Hawaiian dish, also have food with Japanese influences. Another variety of cultural influence has been the increasing

fandom A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant ...

and availability of

anime and manga Anime and manga are forms of mass media produced by the content industry of Japan. The anime and manga industry forms an integral part of Japan's soft power as one of its most prominent cultural exports. Anime is a Japanese cartoon with a speci ...

as early as the 1980s with that era's Viz Japanese comics in English and ''

Mangajin ''Mangajin'' was a monthly English-language magazine for students of Japanese language and culture by Mangajin, Inc. It was distinct from many other magazines of its type in that it unabashedly embraced Japanese popular culture as a learning to ...

'' magazine. This fandom brought in the name "

cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture ...

" and expanded its practice in a wider audience. Some words are not from the standard Japanese language. They instead originated from Japan's regional dialects. For example, the word "bobora" is said to be spoken only in certain

prefectures A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...

, especially in western Japan where many of the Japanese immigrants came from. It originates from the Portuguese word ''abóbora'' meaning Japanese pumpkin.

Food

* Anpan ( :ja:あんパン, 餡パン): A sweet bread filled with azuki bean paste and sprinkled on top with sesame seeds. Usually larger than the Japanese variety. * Bentō ( :ja:弁当, べんとう): Box lunch geared for portability for picnics, etc. It typically has rice, a main dish of meat or fish, and side dishes. It used to be food on a paper plate placed inside a thin cardboard box. Now, it's all in convenient styrofoam containers molded for each dish. *

Furikake is a dry Japanese condimentJapanese Furikake (Rice Seasoning)
. Japanese Kitchen. Accessed 2 ...

: A seaweed and sesame seed based condiment commonly used to season rice. * Manjū ( :ja:饅頭): Confection with sweet azuki bean paste inside a flour-based outside. *

Miso soup is a traditional Japanese soup consisting of a dashi stock into which softened miso paste is mixed. In addition, there are many optional ingredients (various vegetables, tofu, '' abura-age'', etc.) that may be added depending on regional a ...

( :ja:味噌汁): Soup made of fermented

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu ...

paste called

miso is a traditional Japanese seasoning. It is a thick paste produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and ''kōji'' (the fungus '' Aspergillus oryzae'') and sometimes rice, barley, seaweed, or other ingredients. It is used for sauces and ...

. ''Miso-shiru'' in Japanese. *

Mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of , a short-grain japonica glutinous rice, and sometimes other ingredients such as water, sugar, and cornstarch. The rice is pounded into paste and molded into the desired shape. In Japan, it is traditionally ma ...

( :ja:餅): Rice cake made of a special kind of rice that has been pounded into a sticky mass. Mochi may be sweetened or unsweetened. Commonly pounded and eaten during New Year's, as in Japan. Sweetened azuki beans are commonly included with mochi as part of a confection. :* Mochi crunch: Rice crackers seasoned with shoyu. Also called "kaki mochi". Called '' arare'' in standard Japanese. :* Mochi ice cream: Ice cream coated with a thin layer of frozen mochi. * Musubi: Rice triangle wrapped in dried seaweed; may or may not have something in the middle, like a pickled '' ume'' or bits of fish. Spam musubi has a piece of

SPAM Spam may refer to: * Spam (food), a canned pork meat product * Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages ** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages ** Messaging spam, spam targeting users of instant messaging ...

luncheon meat on top. In Japanese the word '' onigiri'' is more commonly used for rice balls. Without further clarification, "musubi" usually implies the triangle variety (round balls of rice are only eaten at funerals). * Shoyu ( :ja:醤油):

Soy sauce Soy sauce (also called simply soy in American English and soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermented paste of soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or '' As ...

. "Shoyu rice" is "soy sauce" sprinkled over rice. "Shoyu ''x''" is some ingredient ''x'' cooked in soy sauce, e.g. "Shoyu chicken", "shoyu pork", "shoyu tofu". This term is so widely used that most Hawaii residents are unaware that is not the widely used English language term for soy sauce. * Sukiyaki ( :ja:すき焼き): Thin slices of

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the edible flower, flowers, ...

s, and tofu simmered in a skillet or pan in sukiyaki sauce. It is also the title of a No. 1 hit song in the U.S. made popular by

Kyu Sakamoto was a Japanese singer and actor. He was best known outside Japan for his international hit song "Ue o Muite Arukō" (known as " Sukiyaki" in English-speaking markets), which was sung in Japanese and sold over 13 million copies. It reached numbe ...

in 1963. The Japanese title of the song is " Ue o muite arukō—it has nothing to do with the food product.) * Teriyaki ( :ja:照り焼き): Grilled meat basted with a sauce made of shoyu and sugar. Meat words such as "chicken" are often appended. A common dish in plate lunches. Often shortened to "teri", e.g. "teri burger". * Tako ( :ja:タコ):

Octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, ...

. Often used in a local dish called poke in which case it is called "tako poke".

Objects

* Benjo ( :ja:便所):

Toilet A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human urine and feces, and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting position popu ...

, interchangeable with Hawaiian-derived ''lua''. Although originally a Japanese word with no particular connotation, in Japan, it is now considered to be crude, and many Japanese people find this term offensive. (See also:

Japanese toilet Some toilets in Japan are more elaborate than toilets commonly found in other developed nations. European countries often have a toilet and a bidet separate whilst Japan combines an electronic bidet with the toilet. The current state of the art ...

). * Bobora: A country hick fresh off the boat from Japan. Also called "Japan bobora". Originally from a regional Japanese dialect, based on the Portuguese word ''abóbora'', meaning a Japanese squash. * Boro boros: Dirty clothes, rags. Old clothes worn for activities like house painting, car repair, etc. * Chawan cut: A hairstyle that was common among little Japanese girls. It looked like someone put a bowl (茶碗, '' chawan'') over the head and cut around the rim. In Japanese, it is called ''okappa'', after the Japanese mythological creature called

kappa Kappa (uppercase Κ, lowercase κ or cursive ; el, κάππα, ''káppa'') is the 10th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiceless velar plosive sound in Ancient and Modern Greek. In the system of Greek numerals, has a value ...

which sports a similar haircut. * Daikon legs:

Daikon Daikon or mooli, ''Raphanus sativus'' var. ''longipinnatus,'' is a mild-flavored winter radish usually characterized by fast-growing leaves and a long, white, root. Originally native to continental East Asia, daikon is harvested and consume ...

( :ja:ダイコン or 大根) are large white

radish The radish (''Raphanus raphanistrum'' subsp. ''sativus'') is an edible root vegetable of the family Brassicaceae that was domesticated in Asia prior to Roman times. Radishes are grown and consumed throughout the world, being mostly eaten raw ...

es having a stubby shape. The term refers to Japanese women's legs which seem short and stubby. This is rumored to be the result of sitting on the floor for long periods. The Japanese equivalent is ''daikon ashi''. * Giri-giri: The

cowlick A cowlick is a section of human hair that stands straight up or lies at an angle at odds with the style in which the rest of an individual's hair is worn. The most common site of a human cowlick is in the crown, but they can show up anywhere. The ...

. ''Giri giri'' is an onomatopoeic word with a different meaning in standard Japanese. This use of the word originates from local dialects spoken in mainly western Japan where it means ''tsumuji'', the standard Japanese word for the cowlick. * Hanakuso: Dried nasal mucus. ''Hana'' means nose, and ''kuso'' means waste. ''

Kuso ''Kuso'' is a term used in East Asia for the internet culture that generally includes all types of camp and parody. In Japanese, is a word that is commonly translated to English as curse words such as fuck, shit, damn, and bullshit, and is o ...

'' in Japanese typically refers to human excrement. This compound is also found in standard Japanese. * Hanabuddah (or hanabata): The fluid version of ''hanakuso''. ''Bata'' is from English "butter". The term in Japanese is usually ''hanamizu'' ("nose water"). * Hanabuddah days: Hanabuddah is most commonly seen on young children who neglect to wipe their runny noses. Thus, hanabuddah days refers to one's youth in Hawaii. * Hashi (also ohashi):

Chopsticks Chopsticks ( or ; Pinyin: ''kuaizi'' or ''zhu'') are shaped pairs of equal-length sticks of Chinese origin that have been used as kitchen and eating utensils in most of East and Southeast Asia for over three millennia. They are held in the ...

, as in Japanese. * " Kikaida": After the

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

of the same name become enormously popular in Hawaii, "Kikaida" became a generic name for children's shows featuring

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

es. * * Shishi:

Urine Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and in many other animals. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder. Urination results in urine being excreted from the body through the urethra. Cellul ...

or urination, used in "go shishi" or "make shishi". Th
Double-Tongued Dictionary
gives three possible etymologies for "shishi": imitative from the sound of urinating, Japanese reduplicated ''shi'' from ''shiko'' "urinate" (sic., probably ''shito'' 尿 "urine"), or Portuguese '' xixi'' "urinate". There is a Japanese

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequ ...

joke based on 五-四-四 "5-4-4", which can be read ''go-shi-shi'' in Japanese. Thus, “I gotta five-four-four” is a Pidgin euphemism for "I gotta go shishi". * Zori: Rubber thonged slippers, often called flip-flops in the continental U.S. Also zoris (plural). Synonymous with "slippers" or "slippahs". From the Japanese word '' zori'' ( :ja:草履). Called "''beach sandal''" ( :ja:ビーチサンダル) in standard Japanese.

Miscellaneous

* Bocha: Take a

bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

. Originally from ''bocha-bocha'' Japanese onomatopoeia for splashing noises. * Bon dance ( :ja:盆踊り): From the Japanese

Bon Festival or just is fusion of the ancient Japanese belief in ancestral spirits and a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist–Confucian custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people retu ...

. An annual summer dance held outside at

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

s to greet the returning souls of the deceased. They dance in a circle around a tower where people sing and beat taiko drums. The most famous bon dance song is "Tanko-bushi" (炭坑節). * Buddhahead: Hawaii person of Japanese descent. In this context, “Buddha” is likely a corruption of Japanese “豚 (buta)”, meaning “pig”. In contrast, the term “Katonk” means a Japanese-American from the US mainland. * Habut/Habuteru: To feel grumpy or resentful, especially after you feel offended by something. Not standard Japanese but from Hiroshima dialect. * Jan ken po: The children's game of rock (fist), paper (open hand), and scissors (peace sign). In Japanese, either '' jan ken'' or ''jan ken pon''. The Japanese also do not say the prelude as used in Hawaii ("janken na manken an saka saka po ...") before they show their hands. This jan-ken-po prelude can also differ depending on the island and is mainly used by children. *

Shibai ''Shibai'' (pronounced like: "she buy," with a on the second syllable) is a popular term commonly used in the state of Hawaii. Its general meaning refers to someone who is viewed as being "pretentious" or overtly "hypocritical." The term is used ...

: A false act. Often refers to politicians or other influential persons who put on a false face. From the Japanese word ''shibai'', meaning "a (theatre) play." * Skebe: Horny. From Japanese ''sukebe''. In Japanese, "H" (''

ecchi is a slang term in the Japanese language for playfully sexual actions. As an adjective, it is used with the meaning of "sexy", "dirty" or "naughty"; as a verb, means "to have sex", and as a noun, it is used to describe someone of lascivious ...

'') is used for the same purpose, and ''sukebe'' refers to a pervert. * Skosh: Just a little. From Japanese ''sukoshi'' "a little".

References

Sources

* Simonson, Douglas et al. (1981). ''Pidgin to da Max.'' Honolulu:

Bess Press Bess Press is an American publisher, based in Hawaii, that issues various books on Hawaiian and Pacific history and culture. It was founded in 1979 by Benjamin "Buddy" Bess, who came to Hawaii in 1976 from New York New York most commonly ref ...

. .