So the area of Japan that I'm in is called the "Kansai" area. Amongst other things, it has three awesome major cities (Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto), and is home to the Hanshin Tigers (Japanese League Champs of 2005), wicked tasty and interesting food, and a special dialect of Japanese, called "Kansai-ben." So far, I've figured this out about Kansai-ben:
1. It has different ways of saying the same thing in standard Japanese, and it has a lot of funny sounds in the lexicon, giving the speaker the ability to really express the tone and rhythm in their language.
2. It gives the listener a more interesting listening experience because of all the slang and percussive words.
A lot of times, just sitting in the teacher's room, I'll listen to one of them telling a funny story and although I can't understand a word I'll still laugh as hard as the Japanese people because the delivery alone is so damn funny.
So anyway. The Kansai area, and especially Osaka, produces a lot of Japanese comedy and entertainers that are quite popular in Japan. I found out about some of the most popular ones because my students (all grades, all schools), and a lot of my friends will imitate and parody the comic behavior (kinda like how we quoted Chappelle all the time last year).
One of the most popular is this dude, Haado Gei (aka "H.G." or "Hard Gay"). It's a double entendre - as a loanword (borrowed from another language) it may be interpreted as "hardcore gay," but "gei" actually means "art" in Japanese (therefore, hard/extreme 'art'). His main schtick is:
1. Dressing up like a 2005 member of the Village People - all black leather - vest, studded cap, supertight hotpants, and big motorcycle boots, elvis sunglasses.
2. Acts of random "social improvement" where he helps (wanted or unwanted) people on the street.
3. Outbursts of "whooooo" and mid-air pevlic thrusting.
4. Ironically, he is totally straight and his gay-parody is benign and not meant as slanderous toward leather and S&M dudes.
I think it's hilarious (my students certainly think so) and really random. The video (link below) is a must see. WHOOOOOOO!
Here's some good links for further exploration:
To see him in action - http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2676613?showw=no&refsite=6721&htv=12
You can find a bittorrent link for a better quality version and an explanation of the video here: http://blog.kung-foo.tv/archives/001535.php
WHOOOOOOO! (next time: "JUNGA-JUNGA!")
1 comment:
Shu,
Thanks for the comment. Dude, Hard-Gei cracks me up. That video is great. Like you, I've also tapped into teaching about music and actually busted out Skee Lo's "I Wish" recently, had them listen to the song, pick out the ocassional lyric and then write and speak about what they wished for...
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