"Turning Japanese" is a song by English band

the Vapors The Vapors are an English new wave and power pop band that initially existed between 1978 and 1981. They had a hit with the song "Turning Japanese", which reached No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart in 1980 and No. 36 in the US ''Billboard'' Hot 10 ...

, from their 1980 album ''

New Clear Days ''New Clear Days'' is the 1980 debut album by the British rock group The Vapors. It spent six weeks in the UK album charts, reaching a highest position of No. 44 in June 1980. It contains their best-known song, "Turning Japanese", which reached ...

''. It was an international hit, becoming the band's most well-known song. The song prominently features the Oriental riff played on guitar.

Composition and recording

According to songwriter David Fenton, "Turning Japanese is all the clichés about angst and youth and turning into something you didn't expect." Fenton intended the song to be a love song, with the character of the song "pining over a photograph of his ex-girlfriend" in his bedroom, drawing from Fenton's own experience of being rejected. Fenton wrote the song in his flat, but had problems writing the chorus. He said that the chorus then came to him suddenly when he woke up at 4am with the line "Turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese" in his head, and he used it even though the words and the song title did not "really mean much". The song was produced by

Vic Coppersmith-Heaven Vic Coppersmith-Heaven (born Victor Smith, August 1945, England) is an English sound engineer and record producer, best known for his production work with the Jam. Career Smith worked in the recording studios at Polydor after leaving school in 1 ...

, who had previously rejected a request to produce for the band after listening to demos sent to him by the band's managers John Weller (father of

Paul Weller Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/ new wave/mod revival band the Jam (1972–1982). He had further success with the blue-eyed soul m ...

) and

Bruce Foxton Bruce Douglas Foxton (born 1 September 1955) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Foxton's music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as bassist and backing vocalist of mod revival band the Jam. ...

. The band's unsuccessful first single "Prisoners" was therefore produced by someone else. He later had another listen to the demos and agreed to produce "Turning Japanese" for them. Coppersmith-Heaven proposed several changes to the arrangement of the song, so the finished recording has a different arrangement from the demo. He recorded the Vapors live to capture the energy of the band, before stripping it down to just the drums, and then overdubbed the song. According to Fenton, the drummer did not like the song, and "just went "Boom! Splat!"" in the recording, but the band thought it sounded good and kept it. The band suspected they would score a hit with "Turning Japanese", even delaying its release in order to make it their second single, hoping to avoid becoming "

one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder or viral hit is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music p ...

s". Nonetheless, they never matched the single's success. In Australia, it spent two weeks at No. 1 during June 1980, and, coincidentally, the song was also a minor hit in Japan. The music video was directed by

Russell Mulcahy Russell Mulcahy ( ; born 23 June 1953) is an Australian film director. Mulcahy's work is recognisable by the use of fast cuts, tracking shots and use of glowing lights, neo-noir lighting, windblown drapery, and fans. He directed music videos i ...

Covers

The American ska punk band,

Skankin' Pickle Skankin' Pickle was an American ska punk band formed in San Jose, California that was active from 1989 to 1997. Biography Skankin' Pickle first formed in December 1988, made up of students from Westmont High School and Los Gatos High School. T ...

, covered the song on their 1994 album Sing Along With Skankin' Pickle. A cover of the song was also featured on America singer-songwriter Liz Phair's 1995 EP

Juvenilia Juvenilia are literary, musical or artistic works produced by authors during their youth. Written juvenilia, if published at all, usually appears as a retrospective publication, some time after the author has become well known for later works. ...

. The song was featured on the soundtrack of the 1997 movie ''

Beverly Hills Ninja ''Beverly Hills Ninja'' is a 1997 American martial arts comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, written by Mark Feldberg and Mitch Klebanoff. The film stars Chris Farley, Nicollette Sheridan, Nathaniel Parker, with Chris Rock, and Robin Shou. The m ...

'' covered by the band The Hazies.

Kirsten Dunst Kirsten Caroline Dunst (; born April 30, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the short ''Oedipus Wrecks'' directed by Woody Allen in the anthology film ''New York Stories'' (1989). She then gained recognition for her rol ...

recorded a cover, with an accompanying video filmed and directed by

McG The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hem ...

and produced by

Takashi Murakami is a Japanese contemporary artist. He works in fine arts media (such as painting and sculpture) as well as commercial (such as fashion, merchandise, and animation) and is known for blurring the line between high and low arts as well as co ae ...

in Tokyo in August 2009. On the Canadian sketch comedy series ''

Second City Television ''Second City Television'', commonly shortened to ''SCTV'' and later known as ''SCTV Network'' and ''SCTV Channel'', is a Canadian television sketch comedy show that ran intermittently between 1976 and 1984. It was created as an offshoot from To ...

'',

Rick Moranis Frederick Allan Moranis (; born April 18, 1953) is a Canadian actor, comedian, musician, songwriter, writer and producer. He appeared in the sketch comedy series ''Second City Television'' (''SCTV'') in the 1980s and several Hollywood (film indu ...

performed a lounge-style version of the song as the character Tom Monroe.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1980 songs 1980 singles The Vapors songs United Artists Records singles Music videos directed by Russell Mulcahy Number-one singles in Australia Song recordings produced by Vic Coppersmith-Heaven Japan in non-Japanese culture