-
TV audiences in Japan surprised to see “Pikachu,” “Raichu” as members of U.S. Olympic team
投稿日 2021年7月28日 23:00:00 (ニュース)
-
続・お知らせ。海外セレブゴシップ&ニュース
-
お知らせ
-
We spot the legendary dekotora Aki Kannon, dedicated to actress and singer Aki Yashiro
-
New Pokémon GU collaboration dresses all the family, including babies for the first time
-
How do European Cup Noodles taste to a Japanese palate?
-
We’ve been doing it wrong – Japanese genius shows us how we should all be making sandwiches【Pics】
-
The future is now with full face sunglasses
-
Natto-infused ramen is a thing — we tried it, we love it【Taste test】
-
Jellyfish and Halloween in perfect harmony at Sumida Aquarium event
-
Japanese toilet paper collection opens our minds as we open our butts
-
Aomori police on the lookout for man shouting unsolicited advice at kids about dating and ramen
-
Former Arashi members Sho Sakurai and Masaki Aiba get married… Wait, that didn’t come out right
-
Creator of Japan’s longest-running manga, Golgo 13, passes away, leaves fans one last gift
-
Crazy cheap cosplay at Daiso? How to transform into Dragon Ball’s Vegeta at the discount shop
-
7 Halloween-themed afternoon teas you won’t want to miss this year
-
Krispy Kreme Japan creates doughnut burgers that are a meal and two desserts all in one【Photos】
-
Get in the damn drift car, Shinji? Evangelion Tomika toy brings D1 machine home in miniature form
-
Demon Slayer Nichiren Blades ready for new duty: Slicing through your sweets as dessert knives
-
Man in Japan arrested for breaking into ex-girlfriend’s apartment to steal her Nintendo Switch
-
The Japanese Internet chooses the top too-sexy-for-their-own-good male voices in anime
-
First-ever Studio Ghibli x Russell Athletic range pays homage to My Neighbour Totoro
-
Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan announces first expansion with new Donkey Kong area
-
Cup Noodle pouch satisfies our never-ending need for instant ramen
-
Retro Japanese train is our new favourite office space
-
How do Japanese fans feel about Netflix’s live-action Cowboy Bebop opening sequence?
-
We try Uniqlo coffee at first-ever cafe inside Ginza flagship store
-
The number of elderly people in Japan this year has yet again smashed multiple records
-
Mr. Sato broadens his home drinking horizons at Kaldi【Japan’s Best Home Senbero】
-
We try Japanese Twitter’s newest trend the Penguin Egg, end up hatching something very disturbing
-
Takoyaki makers surprisingly good at grilling meat for yakiniku too
Sponsored Link
Siblings look to electrify the badminton competition at the Tokyo Olympics.
Part of what makes the Olympics special is that it’s an opportunity for sports that might not otherwise attract a worldwide audience to shine on a global stage. For example, though Japanese athletes Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda are very good at what they do, their sport, badminton, isn’t one in which the top stars are household names in most countries.
So when Japanese TV viewers tuned in for the pair’s doubles match on Monday morning, one of the first things they probably did was check the graphic in the corner of the screen where “Kamura” and “Sonoda” were written. Naturally, there eyes then came to the names of their American opponents, which seemed startling familiar to many people in Japan, even if they’d never watched a badminton match before in their life.
Representing the U.S. in the match were brothers Phillip and Ryan Chew. As is often done with non-Japanese names, “Chew” was written in the phonetic Japanese script called katakana, rendered like this:
However, since the brothers Chew obviously share a surname, the broadcaster needed some additional information to differentiate between the two in the on-screen graphic. Writing out their full names in katakana would have taken up a lot of extra space, so the TV crew decided instead to add their given-name initials. In Japanese writing, though, there’s no way to write just “P” or “R,” since those consonants always have to be followed by a vowel in the Japanese language. So in the end they went with a mix, using the English/Latin “P.” and “R.” and following them both with チュウ, as can be seen in the top-left of the screen, and that’s what had people in Japan doing a double-take.
アメリカ代表 P.チュウ/R.チュウ
(ピカチュウ/ライチュウ) pic.twitter.com/THNFzMPov9— おまる (@omaru_97) July 26, 2021
Why? Because as mentioned above, katakana is a phonetic writing system. That means チュウ isn’t just how you write “Chew,” but also how you write the identically pronounced “chu.” In other words, for many Japanese people, when they saw P.チュウ and R.チュウ…
バドミントン見てるんだけど
寝起き過ぎて
P.チュウ/R.チュウって文字見てピカチュウとライチュウ…( ¯꒳¯ )ᐝ
って読んだ pic.twitter.com/FYcOsI6mqR
Sponsored Link
— 蒼季@あぉたん (@aotan_nico) July 26, 2021
…their immediate interpretation wasn’t “P. Chew” and “R. Chew,” but “P.chu” and “R.chu,” and in a country where Pokémon is an ever-present cultural phenomenon, their minds then went straight to Pikachu and Raichu!
▼ Top to bottom: P. Chew/P.chu, Pikachu, R. Chew/R.chu, and Raichu
The unexpected pseudo-presence of two Electric-type Pokémon at the Tokyo Olympics not as mascots, but as competitors, sent a shockwave of chuckles through Japanese Twitter, where comments included:
“Can’t see it as anything other than Pikachu and Raichu.”
“Whoa, when did Pikachu and Raichu form a badminton pair?!?”
“Pikchu and Raichu are always among the top contenders.”
“Sonoda and Kamura are taking on Pikachu and Raichu in men’s badminton!”
“Wait, shouldn’t Pikachu and Raichu be playing against, like, Slowbro and Pidgeotto instead?”
▼ One commenter even managed to track down artwork of the two Pokémon species actually playing badminton.
Tokyo2020
バトミントン 男子ダブルス
VS
ピカチュウ/ライチュウ????
#オリンピック #バトミントン pic.twitter.com/2XB1JvXWl9— りくと (@rikkun_Rikuto) July 26, 2021
The match ended in a decisive victory for Kamura and Sonoda, who won both games by a wide margin. But while Phillip and Ryan didn’t leave with the victory, a whole lot of Japanese people will now definitely remember their last name.
Source: Twitter via Livedoor News/J-Cast News via Hachima Kiko, Tokyo 2020 Olympics
Top image: SoraNews24, Pakutaso
Insert images: SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
Source: SORA NEWS24
Sponsored Link
最新情報