Bottakuri

Posted on 2005/03/08 17:36:14 (March 2005) by john.

The surprising wit and cunning of the Japanese tourist.

A short while ago in London we walked past some guy who was trying to hand out flyers for something or other. I assume he was English, but on noticing Chie and guessing she was Japanese, he smiled and said "Mukatsuku" whilst offering her a leaflet. Chie laughed, and explained to me afterwards that Mukatsuku means irritating. I couldn't quite understand at the time why he would say that, so after thinking about it for a while, I just put it to the back of my mind.

Now, whilst walking through a market in Paris recently, one of the traders selling some crap we didn't need attempted to get Chie's attention by saying "nihow, nihow" at her, having incorrectly guessed she was Chinese.

On an earlier trip to Paris we were detained quite irritatingly by some French "artists" who wanted to make these pointless little silhouette things of both of us. They too were able to roll out a bit of Japanese (chotto matte kudasai I think it was, which means please wait a minute) as part of the whole act they had developed.

These are certainly not isolated events - I've noticed this sort of thing is actually a pretty common occurence. It seems to be a standard trick of the sorts of people who hang around the streets in touristy areas and try to get you to buy something you don't want - to learn a few words of each foreign language in an attempt to get your attention and lull you into a false sense of security. You would assume people are pretty easily brushed off with the old "Non Parlo Italiano" and equivalents, so the really persistent conman will then say hello to you in Flemish or whatever on the off chance that will keep your attention long enough to sell you something.

Unfortunately the Japanese in particular are often preyed on by such unscrupulous types, as their general good manners and gentle ways are often mistaken for gullibility. It seems, however, this view of the oblivious Japanese tourist with more money than sense is becoming increasingly far from the truth, as they have in recent years launched on something of a counter attack on these con artists, one which I find deeply satisfying.

You see the thing is, you have to ask yourself where your average tourist-exploiting dodgy-dealer learns their Japanese from (or whatever other foreign languages they have in their arsenal). Call it prejudice, but it seems unlikely to me that someone who makes their money ripping off tourists with tacky souvenirs is going to have a degree in linguistics. So where do they learn Japanese? It is, of course, from the tourists themselves. At some point in time they'll have asked a tourist how to say hello, or please and thankyou, or perhaps "souvenir" in Japanese, and somebody has been good natured enough to credit them with a reply.

Having talked to Chie about this it appears that the tide is in fact turning though. Evidence appears to suggest that some Japanese tourists are in fact supplying con merchants with deliberately bogus Japanese, with "coded messages" to assist or simply amuse their fellow countrymen when pestered by these nuisances in the future.

Chie said a common reply when asked how to say hello (or whatever) is to teach the hapless would-be-con-artist the Japanese for "I'm a rip off" - bottakuri, or perhaps "Don't buy anything from me", or even the slightly childish but nonetheless amusing "I smell bad". They, of course, aren't going to have a clue what they're being taught... and even if they do somehow twig, or are informed at a later date what it is they've been saying all this time, it will probably only have a positive effect, and make them think twice about using language to exploit tourists in this way.

So you can just imagine the guy handing out leaflets, after having had a few Japanese people say "mukatsuku" at him, decide that this must be some kind of cheerful Japanese greeting, and by turning it back on the public he might get a better response. You almost feel sorry for him. Almost, but not quite.

Excellent! Very chucklesome!

Posted by Rob Lang at 2005/03/10 09:03:23.

Reminds me how a friend of mine embarrassed himself good-style many years ago. We had a French woman working at the office where the business was AngloFrench. We were generally used to talking "Franglais" but he lost the plot one day. In a moment of excitement (she *was* attractive after all) he said: "I know some French!" To which she replied "Oh yes? What?" and he, having heard a record he didn't fully understand earlier on, came out with the immortal line... "Voulez-vous Couchez avec moi, ce soir?" I have never seen such an instant, and florid, pair of red faces before or since!

Posted by Nigel at 2005/03/11 15:23:18.

Yes in any other context that could be laughed off, but at work... ewww.... sticky...

Posted by John at 2005/03/11 15:58:28.

Post a comment