‘Loser Dogs’ Lexicon
Last year’s hotest new Japanese word was makeinu/loser dog*, which is now the commonly used to term for unmarried, childless working women over the age of 30. The following article by Leo Lewis in Tokyo covers an entire leciocon of new sexist words which have developed in Japan to keep pace with the rate of social change of women in here.
New words tell sad tale of Japan’s Bridget Jones
TOKYO— Bridget Joneses of the world beware: spend too much time with the rikonmiminenzo (divorce-promotion generation) and you just may end up as a moshimo-onna (a “what if?†girl) or even risk spending your thirties as a tsurumun (a woman who dreads being alone on national holidays and invents reasons to visit friends).
These are part of a swelling lexicon of Japanese neologisms and the products of a language that is working flat-out to keep up with the rapidly changing lifestyles of young Japanese women…more…
*Makeinu was made popular by the Japanese writer Junko Sakaiï¼ˆé…’äº•é †å). It comes from the title of her book Makeinu no Toboe (è² ã‘犬ã®é å ãˆ) (”The distant howling of the loser dogs”) which was a best-seller last year. The illustration above is from the cover of Junko Sakai’s book.
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November 19th, 2005 at 7:45 am
just wanted to know where the image of the girl came from? certain artist? thanks
November 22nd, 2005 at 11:58 am
The illustration above is from the cover of Junko Sakai’s book. It’s a Photoshop tracing of Ms Sakai’s photograph and sad to say in Japan often graphics artists are not credited.