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Creative use of the Japanese language in product names or slogans. |
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Don't Wally?
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NTT does it again! In Mangajin issue No. 17 we reported that the punsters at NTT (Nippon Telephone and Telegraph) had designated the 19th of every month as Tohku no Hi, "Talk Day," c.f. toh = 10, and ku = 9. Not content to rest on their laurels, they have now come up with a punning slogan for their campaign soliciting advertisers for the yellow pages, known in Japan as taun peiji, or "town pages."
The character in the striped sweater and stocking cap is Wally, from a children's book called "Where's Wally?," originally from England, but now being marketed all over the world. (In the US, his name was changed to Waldo, but in most other countries, he's Wally.) It's currently being promoted in Japan as Uorii o Sagase ("Search for Wally"). In the book, Wally is hidden in vast town, country, and crowd scenes, and the object is to locate him. In this ad for the taun peiji, at the bottom left, is the slogan: Machi no koto nara don't uorii "Don't worry/Wally about the town." With the relatively limited number of sounds available in Japanese, it's not possible to make a distinction between "Wally" and "worry" -- a convenient situation for the ever-alert copy writers at NTT. The idea seems to be "don't be like Wally," i.e., hard to find; and, as an extension, "don't worry." This is clarified by the main headline: Taun peiji de medateba, machi no naka de medatsu yo! "If you stand out in the Yellow Pages, you'll stand out in the town." Thanx to: Dr. Nicolas Tranter |
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Pocky Pokkii Anyone who has spent time in Japan is probably familiar with Pocky, a snack made of pretzel-like sticks coated with chocolate. The bright red package stands out in shops and train station kiosks everywhere. Americans might tend to pronounce the name as it is spelled in English, i.e., rhyming with "hockey," but the katakana on the side of the package reveals that in Japan they are called Pokkii, which sounds more like "pokey." The name comes from the snapping sound that they make when eaten. |
 Sound FX: Poki! - This effect might also be used for cracking knuckles, the snapping of a twig, etc. - The small tsu at the end indicates that the sound is cut off sharply. |
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Jikan de Gozaru The Time Monkey 
B-AI, Inc., an affiliate of toy-making giant Bandai, offers a monkey who tells the time--but only if he's in the mood. As you might expect, the name Jikan de Gozaru involves a play on words. Jikan means "time," and de gozaru is the plain/dictionary form of de gozaimasu, a very polite equivalent of desu ("is"), so the name literally means "It's time." To appreciate the humor of this name, you also need to know that de gozaru (unlike de gozaimasu) is no longer used in contemporary speech; it's associated more with the speech of 16th-century samurai. So right off the bat, the combination of this cute monkey figure and the samurai-speak verb form provokes a giggle. When you see the name written, however, you realize there is even more here than meets the ear. One clue is that the -zaru in gozaru is written in katakana--in this case simply to make it stand out from the rest of the word. Saru is the word for "monkey," but in combinations, the s sound changes to z, i.e., saru becomes zaru. The go- in gozaru sounds like an honorific prefix (as in gohan or goshujin), so gozaru sounds like "honorable monkey" (although with saru, the honorific prefix o- is the one actually used). To make this monkey tell you the time, simply shake him. In a monkey-like voice, he might announce:
Gozen hachi-ji juugofun de gozaru. Then again, he might not. This monkey has an attitude--20 percent of his remarks have nothing to do with the time. These include lines like:
Nemui de gozaru. Jishin de gozaru.
Itai de gozaru. Tokei de gozaru. If you really need to know the time, just shake him again. He is programmed not to make whimsical remarks two times in a row. This monkey also comes with a time-announce function, as well as an alarm and snooze button. With the snooze button you get various messages such as:
Jikan de gozaru. Jikan de gozaru. Gozen shichiji gojuugofun de gozaru. Okureru de gozaru. Okureru de gozaru. Gozen shichiji gojuugofun de gozaru. The promotional material from B-AI suggests that this monkey would be the perfect gift for recent grads who are living alone or for friends who always seem to show up late. (Responding to the demand which resulted from the appearance of the "Jikan" in Mangajin magazine's Brand News, we began offering it in the Japanese Resource Guide.) |