Hidden Japanese

Itazura ichiban wrote:That might depend on the kind of party... :P

what kind of twisted party is that, toasted chin-chin...ouch! *crosses legs*

Oh, I was thinking that perhaps the "Fifth Element" (starring Bruce Willis and Chris Tucker) had Japanese influences in it as well. The 5 elements of peace and/or winning in combat. Like Musashi's Book of 5 Rings had such elements as, ...wind, fire, earth, water, and the void. Although in that movie, I think that girl with the orange hair or Bruce Willis's character portrayed the Void element.

Speaking of Star Wars its Japanese links, here's a little trivia...

Did you know that George Lucas' first choice for Darth Vader was supposed to be none other than Toshiro Mifune?

Of course, Mifune declined, got bitter after Star Wars became a hit, and then did something really stupid by accepting a role in the big flop "1941."

Because of that, he declined his next US-film role... Karate Kid.

Ouch!

WildSamurai wrote:Speaking of Star Wars its Japanese links, here's a little trivia...

Did you know that George Lucas' first choice for Darth Vader was supposed to be none other than Toshiro Mifune?

Of course, Mifune declined, got bitter after Star Wars became a hit, and then did something really stupid by accepting a role in the big flop "1941."

Because of that, he declined his next US-film role... Karate Kid.

Ouch!

Didn't know that. Tough luck and too bad for Mifune.

I know George Lucas is a HUGE Kurosawa Akira fan. It's from Kurosawa that he picked up a lot of ideas for Star Wars.

ahochaude wrote:I know George Lucas is a HUGE Kurosawa Akira fan. It's from Kurosawa that he picked up a lot of ideas for Star Wars.

Yeah, Lucas adapted a lot of the first Star Wars movie from The Hidden Fortress(Kakushi Toride No San Akunin) starring none other than Mifune Toshiro.

You should rent it. You'll see a number of parallels to Star Wars. :D

bmwracer wrote:
Yeah, Lucas adapted a lot of the first Star Wars movie from The Hidden Fortress(Kakushi Toride No San Akunin) starring none other than Mifune Toshiro.

You should rent it. You'll see a number of parallels to Star Wars. :D

No wonder Lucas wanted Mifune in Star Wars as Darth Vader like how Wild Samurai was saying. Too bad for Mifune.

ahochaude wrote:No wonder Lucas wanted Mifune in Star Wars as Darth Vader like how Wild Samurai was saying. Too bad for Mifune.

I don't think it would've worked anyways. Mifune isn't tall enough to be imposing like the current Vader is... And having Mifune's face covered up with a mask is sacrilege. :)

bmwracer wrote:
I don't think it would've worked anyways. Mifune isn't tall enough to be imposing like the current Vader is... And having Mifune's face covered up with a mask is sacrilege. :)

More the reason on why things happen for a specific purpose. (Good or bad) :)

ahochaude wrote:More the reason on why things happen for a specific purpose. (Good or bad) :)

Providence. :)

Apparently the germans came up with the idea of those cell phone trinklets on the cell phones and they are called "chin-chin". Can any germans on this board confirm this?
Order your chin-chin here!
BTW, the site is in deutch...

[image]

niko2x wrote:BTW, the site is in deutch...

Heh, slight problem. :)

bmwracer wrote:

niko2x wrote:Apparently the germans came up with the idea of those cell phone trinklets on the cell phones and they are called "chin-chin". Can any germans on this board confirm this?
Order your chin-chin here!
BTW, the site is in deutch...
[image]

Heh, slight problem. :)

yeah, but you can clearly see that you can order your very own chin-chin there, geman or not. personally, i'm too attached to mine. (ba-dum-bump!! :P )

niko2x wrote:yeah, but you can clearly see that you can order your very own chin-chin there, geman or not.

:hehe: :hehe: :hehe:

Niko2x wrote:personally, i'm too attached to mine. (ba-dum-bump!! :P )

You're picking up too much from The Man! :hehe:

*g* They're just saying that chin chin means 'kleines Schwänzchen' that means 'little cock?' mhmm, *is thinking of a better translation* "Schwänzchen" isn't exactly a vulgarly word..."little tail" would be better ;)

Really, the germans came up with this idea? ^^ don't know anything about it. On the site they're saying that it is 'stylish' decoration and that it's a talisman in Japan..blablabla..individualism...unique style....bla...noble...just a typical advertisement

Hey, I've been living in Germany for the past 38 years, and I've never seen a cellphone with something strapped to it. I've had 3 different ones so far, but none of them even had an eyelet (that the word?) to tie something to it...(btw: Cellphones are called "Handys" in Germany :D because it sounds english!)

Anyway on that chinchin Website they say that its a big thing from Japan :D

I think Darth Vaders helmet was based on that of a samurai. They recently had a large Star Wars Expo in Tokyo.

I found this link too. It has some cool star wars origami.

http://www8.ocn.ne.jp/~arumasa/origami/starwars/main.html

I always wondered if the US greeting "Hi" was perhaps based on the Japanese "Hai". ;)

IT's no big shock that Lucas was greatly influenced by Japanese movies.

BMW mentioned that Lucas was always a Kurosawa Akira fan.

Actually, he, and Speilberg, and a couple of other director friends of his were such big fans that they went to Japan, had a big part in raising the money for Kurosawa to do "Ran", and spent most of that year hanging around on the set, and picking Kurosawa's brain.

But Japanese movies aren't the only things that influenced Lucas in making S.W.

Someday take a look at an English movie from 1954 called; "The Dam Busters", staring Richard Todd. The climax of that movie, scenes of a group of RAF bomber pilots having to slip in though heavy fire and skip bombs to their targets, was pretty much a scene by scene template for the climax of Star Wars.

nihon wrote:I always wondered if the US greeting "Hi" was perhaps based on the Japanese "Hai". ;)

The O.E.D. has referances to the English word "Hi" going back to the 13th century. It's had a number of different meanings, but they do list a ref. from a book published in the 1860s where a policeman shouted "Hi" (as in "Hey You!") at an escaping thief.

So the odds are, Hi as an English greeting didn't come from Japanese.

A word that I've noticed recently is "scooch".

Mostly I've heard it from women saying things like, "Could you move it over just a scooch?" Slang for just a little bit.

Now I'm hearing it in Japanese dramas, mostly as "Scoochie", and usually translated as "a little."

So, is that an old established Japanese word? Or did the Japanese pick it up from English after the war?

Geezer wrote:

Now I'm hearing it in Japanese dramas, mostly as "Scoochie", and usually translated as "a little."

Are you referring to "sukoshi"? :sweat: