, , is a

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 ...

phrase meaning "it cannot be helped" or "nothing can be done about it". , is an alternative.

Cultural associations

The phrase has been used by many western writers to describe the ability of the Japanese people to maintain dignity in the face of an unavoidable tragedy or injustice, particularly when the circumstances are beyond their control, somewhat similar to "

c'est la vie C'est la vie may refer to: * C'est la vie (phrase), ''C'est la vie'' (phrase), a French phrase, translated as "That's life" Books * C'est la Vie (comic strip), ''C'est la Vie'' (comic strip), an English-language comic strip by Jennifer Babcock * ...

" in French or "It Is What It Is" in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. Historically, it has been applied to situations in which masses of Japanese people as a whole have been made to endure during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, including the Allied occupation of Japan and the

internment of Japanese Americans Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

and

Japanese Canadians are Canadian citizens of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Canadians are mostly concentrated in Western Canada, especially in the province of British Columbia, which hosts the largest Japanese community in the country with the majority of them living ...

. Thus, when

Emperor Shōwa Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

(Hirohito) was asked, in his first ever press conference given in Tokyo in 1975, what he thought of the

atomic bombing of Hiroshima The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the onl ...

, he answered: "It's very regrettable that

nuclear bombs A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

were dropped and I feel sorry for the citizens of Hiroshima but it couldn't be helped because that happened in

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

time." In ''Asian American Women: The "Frontiers" Reader'', author Debbie Storrs states:

The Japanese phrase ''shikata ga nai'', or "it can't be helped," indicates cultural norms over which one has little control... This notion of suffering in part stems from ''shikata ga nai'': failing to follow cultural norms and social conventions led to a life of little choice but endurance of suffering.

The phrase also can have negative connotations, as some may perceive the lack of reaction to adversity as complacence, both to social and political forces. In a '' Business Week'' article, a Western businessman says of Japanese people:

He encourages Japanese not to succumb to the ''shikata ga nai'' mentality but to get angry and start behaving like citizens. 'Japanese people listen to me because I'm always pushing what the possibilities are and how things can change... to ensure positive economic and political prospects...'

Non-Japanese literary references

The phrase appears as an important theme in a range of books relating to major events in the history of the Japanese people. Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston's '' Farewell to Manzanar'' devoted a chapter to the concept to explain why the Japanese Americans

interned Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

in the US during

did not put up more of a struggle against the restrictive conditions and policies put upon them. The historical manga '' Barefoot Gen'' shows many of the citizens in Hiroshima using the phrase "Shikata ga nai" to explain why they accept the military rule, and the acceptance of the below-poverty conditions that cause many of their citizens to starve. Similarly,

John Hersey John Richard Hersey (June 17, 1914 – March 24, 1993) was an American writer and journalist. He is considered one of the earliest practitioners of the so-called New Journalism, in which storytelling techniques of fiction are adapted to n ...

's '' Hiroshima'' applies the phrase after efforts to assist fatally injured ''

hibakusha ''Hibakusha'' ( or ; ja, 被爆者 or ; "person affected by a bomb" or "person affected by exposure o radioactivity) is a word of Japanese origin generally designating the people affected by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at th ...

'' ceased. James Clavell used the phrase in his novel ''Shōgun''. The Japanese characters explain it to the westerner who comes to see its wisdom. The phrase is also introduced or explained by Japanese or Japanese-American characters in books such as David Guterson's '' Snow Falling on Cedars''. In the book ''The Hostile Beaches'' by Gordon D. Shirreffs, the character Lieutenant Carney says the phrase. When asked what it means, he says it means "Let's get to work", not knowing its actual meaning. Later, Bob Dunbar says the words to confuse searching Japanese soldiers. The Japan commentator Willard Price often made reference to the term in his dealings with the Japanese in the 1930s and 1940s.

Kim Stanley Robinson Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American writer of science fiction. He has published twenty-two novels and numerous short stories and is best known for his ''Mars'' trilogy. His work has been translated into 24 languages. Many ...

also includes the phrase in his book '' Red Mars''. The phrase is spoken by Hiroko early on in the Mars colonization: "It was Hiroko who cut Arkady off, with what she said was a Japanese commonplace: 'Shikata ga nai,' meaning there is no choice" (100). Throughout the book, the phrase is a motif used when the characters have an unavoidable obligation or path. Pt 8, the final chapter of the book, is also called ''Shikata ga nai''.

Other references

The phrase has been adopted by the

Metasploit The Metasploit Project is a computer security project that provides information about security vulnerabilities and aids in penetration testing and IDS signature development. It is owned by Boston, Massachusetts-based security company Rapid7. It ...

computer penetration framework as the name of a shellcode encoder. It uses polymorphic XOR additive feedback to ensure that the output of the "Shikata ga nai" encoder is different every time. As such antivirus products have no chance of detecting the malicious code by using a known blacklist. "Shoganai" is a track on

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

's 2002 mini-album '' Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With''. "Shikata Ga Nai" is a track on

Van der Graaf Generator Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester by singer-songwriters Peter Hammill and Chris Judge Smith and the first act signed by Charisma Records. They did not experience much commercial success i ...

's 2016 album '' Do Not Disturb''. The phrase appears in the lyrics of the song ''Kantori Ongaku'' by Devendra Banhart, and also in the song ''Acheron'' by DIIV.

Other languages

*A similar saying exists in China, 没办法 (méi bàn fǎ), and Korea, 어쩔 수 없다 (eojjeol su eopda), which is used in similar situations as "shō ga nai". *The

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

saying, אין ברירה (ain breira), meaning "no choice" is similar, as well as the French saying

has some similarities.

Cultural associations

Non-Japanese literary references

Other references

Other languages

References

See also

Further reading