Comedy duo “Nippon Elekitel Rengo” in character.
Every year, Japanese publishers U-Can hold a competition for the most popular new buzzwords circulating in the Japanese language.
This year, the two phrases awarded the Grand Prix were “the right to collective self-defense” after the Abe cabinet’s reinterpretation of the constitution, and “no that’s bad ～ no, no!”, from the popular “Mibojin Akemi” skit by comedy duo “Nippon Elekitel Rengo”.
But netizens are displeased with the words selected by the panel, with many finding these new words underwhelming and not representative of some of the biggest issues in Japanese society over the past year. 2ch netizens also suggested that the political nature of one of the Grand Prix winners were indicative of the “left-wing” judging panel…
From Yahoo! Japan:
2014 Grand Prix For Buzzwords Goes To “No That’s Bad ～ No, No!” And “Right To Collective Self-Defense”
On December 1, the 2014 U-Can Grand Prix for new words and buzzwords was announced in Tokyo, with “right to collective self-defense” and “no that’s bad ～ no, no!” chosen as the winners of the annual grand prix.
“The right to collective self-defense” was given approval to be exercised by Abe’s cabinet on July 1. It split national opinion given that the cabinet changed their interpretation of the constitution without revising it.
“No that’s bad ～ no, no!” is a line from the “Mibojin Akemi-chan” [Akemi the widow] skit by comedy duo Nippon Elekitel Rengo, consisting of Nakano Soko (31) and Hashimoto Koyuki (30). In the skit, an old man, “Komagai-san”, played by Nakano, calls in an inviting tone, “Hey, how about it darling ～”, and the robot “Chatty Wife ‘Mibojin Akemi-chan No.3′” played by Hashimoto continues to reject his advances, by saying “No that’s bad ～ no, no!”.
Other words selected for inclusion in the top ten were: “as I am” from the film “Frozen” [the theme song “Let It Go” was translated in Japanese as “As I Am”]; “carp girls”, to refer to those who support the pro-baseball team Hiroshima Carps; “kabe-don” which gained popularity through the shojo manga “L♥DK”; “danger drugs” which were renamed from illegal drugs; “Go-kigenyo” [farewell] which is said by narrator Miwa Akihiro at the end of each installment of the NHK serial TV novel “Hanako and Anne”; “mata-hara” [maternity harassment], referring to the harrassment of women in the workplace due to pregnancy or motherhood; “Yo-kai Watch”, a video game which has become a spin-off manga and TV anime; and “legend”, which refers to Kasai Noriaki (ski-jumper), Aoki Isao (golfer) and Yamamoto Masahiro (baseball player) who have all been active in the sports world for a long period of time.
Comments from 2ch.net:
シャイニングウィザード(catv?)＠＼(^o^)／:
The right to collective self-defense, that’s bad, no no.
リキラリアット(庭)＠＼(^o^)／:
Yeah join those two winning words together and that’s the left-wing in a nutshell.
ハーフネルソンスープレックス(芋)＠＼(^o^)／:
Hah, that’s tomorrow’s Asahi Shimbun headline sorted w
ラ ケブラーダ(dion軍)＠＼(^o^)／:
I don’t get what’s funny about them.
閃光妖術(石川県)＠＼(^o^)／:
I’m surprised at how arbitrary these are.
No matter how left-wing the people who select these are, don’t they know they’re supposed to strike a balance?
中年’sリフト(東京都)＠＼(^o^)／:
No matter how I think about it I reckon it should have been something to do with STAP cells.
These things are just stupid, they should stop doing them.
クロスヒールホールド(新疆ウイグル自治区)＠＼(^o^)／:
Isn’t it awful that they even make a buzzword competition into political propaganda?
アイアンクロー(dion軍)＠＼(^o^)／:
This happens every year, it’s more of a prize for the words that they want to make into buzzwords.
I was sure that somehow Torigoe [Shuntaro; a veteran journalist] would be included in the panel, and of course he was.
Comments from Yahoo! Japan:
yos*****:
Pretty awkward that the right to collective self-defense is a buzzword.
I don’t really understand what their judging criteria are.
min*****:
Good job, Elekitel.
cfy*****:
There was a lot of buzz about last year’s buzzword grand prix, but this year it feels like they did it on the down-low.
toto:
There are a good few words out of those nominated that I’d never have though were really buzzwords in the first place.
koh*****:
I don’t think this prize is really necessary any more……
TN7:
No doubt about it that this year “no that’s bad ～ no, no!” is a buzzword.
It became a buzzword as the year went on.
off*****:
This year’s buzzwords are small fry.
ri_*****:
This year is surprisingly weird….?
There was the thing over STAP cells and Nonomura, I don’t suppose these are really buzz”words”.
ssk*****:
It’s a bit dubious that the right to collective self defense is in there.
hid*****:
To put it frankly, this is just a pissing contest. Just like last year’s winner, there is not a single word here that will stand the test of time.
This year none of them are applicable.
