謎

This is How to Japanese, a monthly newsletter with something about Japan/Japanese and a dash of いろいろ.

日本・日本語：Who knows?

I’ve written twice in the Japan Times about humor in the Japanese language (August 2011 and July 2021), and I seem to have neglected to include one of the funniest words in either of those articles: 謎 (nazo, mystery/puzzle).

I distinctly remember how I learned what 謎 means. This may not have been my first encounter with the word, but this is the one that cemented its use: the satirical 鮨 (Sushi) skit from the 2006 collection titled “The Japanese Tradition ～日本の形～.”

I’m sure many of you have seen them before, but these videos were some of the first to go viral on YouTube after the skit 謝罪 (Shazai, Apologies) was included in the Berlin International Film Festival in 2007. They’re all available on an official channel now. If you haven’t seen them, essentially the videos mock “weird Japan” by providing badly distorted guides to Japanese culture.

I saw them in the 2008-2010 period at some point and remember my Japanese roommates and my brothers both laughing at まあまあまあまあ (maa maa maa maa) and おっとっとっと (otottotto) when we poured beers for each other during one of their visits.

The skit uses the 謎 gag twice. First, when introducing pickled ginger:

これはガリです。材料は謎です。 (Kore wa gari desu. Zairyō wa nazo desu.)

This is gari. The ingredients are a mystery.

The second is when they introduce 領収書 (ryōshūsho), which I hesitate to translate as “receipt” since my grocery store gives me the option to receive a 領収書 or a レシート (reshīto, receipt):

これは領収書という不思議な紙です。これを書いてもらえば、後から換金することができます。仕組みは謎です。 (Kore wa ryōshūsho to iu fushigi na kami desu. Kore o kaite moraeba, ato kara kankin suru koto ga dekimasu. Shikumi wa nazo desu.)

This is a mysterious paper known as a ryōshūsho. If you have one of these prepared, you can get your money back later. How it works is a mystery.

These are the sentences that set off a lightbulb in my head:  Xは謎です (X wa nazo desu, X is a mystery) is funny! It’s funny to admit that you don’t know how something works or to imply that something either 1. very simple and straightforward (like pickled ginger) or 2. inordinately complex (like the rules for getting refunds on 接待 [settai, treating customers to food and drinks]) is a complete mystery. Not to mention the combination of sounds in なぞ are a bit funny in and of themselves.

That’s really all I have linguistically for you this month, but I’d be remiss if I failed to mention the reason why I started looking into this word in the first place: 片桐仁 (Katagiri Jin).

Katagiri is a comedian, actor, and apparently ceramic artist, but he feels very much like a “that guy” to me since I first saw him in these comedic shorts. When I saw him in the drama “Kichijoji Losers” a few years back, I immediately thought, “Hey, it’s that guy!”

I was curious to see whether “The Japanese Tradition” had as much of an impact on viewers in Japan as it must’ve for people watching abroad. The answer, perhaps not surprisingly, is no. There seems to be moderate familiarity with “The Japanese Tradition” on social media but I don't think there was as much of a viral effect in Japan. Not that there was a huge wave abroad, but this was pre-Netflix, early-YouTube days when small videos like this popped up here and there and would make a momentary wave. I wouldn’t be surprised if more non-Japanese recognized Katagiri from “The Japanese Tradition” and more Japanese recognized him from the comedy duo ラーメンズ (Rahmens) with his partner Kobayashi Kentarō.

Katagiri does seem to inhabit somewhat of a “that guy” role in Japan as well, and I was extremely pleased to find this lengthy essay 全ては片桐仁から始まった (Subete wa Katagiri Jin kara hajimatta, Everything Started With Katagiri Jin) examining his role in the duo’s work and their appeal. If you’re looking for a challenging read, I’d recommend giving it a look. The long and short of it is this: 

（片桐は）何か考えた上で何もしない ([Katagiri wa] nanika kangaeta ue de nanimo shinai).

(Katagiri) does nothing…with intention.

In their early sketches, often Katagiri plays himself or does very little while Kobayashi provides commentary or action. In his podcast and variety show appearances and in his ceramic art, Katagiri is incredibly plain or natural and isn’t embarrassed to share his unvarnished experiences, “doing nothing” by not touching them up. It’s a pretty good take! The only thing that might suggest otherwise is that Katagiri supplies all of the physical comedy in the Japanese version of the 2006 “Get a Mac” ad campaign. (YouTube permasearch link to the campaign.)

Speaking of getting a Mac… As I was browsing the videos included in that article, I noticed a news segment about the iPad launch in Japan in 2010 at which Katagiri appeared (see the 0:40 point in the video)…just as himself, it seems. This would’ve been several years after the “Get a Mac” ad campaign, and it doesn’t seem like he’s receiving any special treatment or showing up “in costume” as a PC with Kobayashi. It looks like he’s just in line with everyone else. More support for the “Katagiri Jin does nothing” theory.

There is an excellent language lesson from this exchange. I wrote about それが (sore ga) previously, and here Katagiri uses it to comedic effect. The broadcaster asks him what he plans to do with the iPad. Here’s the exchange:

何がしたいですか (Nani ga shitai desu ka)

What do you want to do (with the iPad)?

それが別にないんですよね～ (Sore ga betsu ni nain desu yo ne~)

That’s the thing: Nothing, really.

Someone in the comments suggested that それが could be thought of as “plot twist!” and I think that’s a nice way to understand how it sets up ideas, but “that’s the thing” or “here’s the thing” are also nice ways to handle it.

Both 謎 and それが are pretty subtle, quiet ways to add comedy to your Japanese language. See if you can include them in your repertoire. 

いろいろ：

• Over on the blog I’ve got a link to the podcast as well as a link to a Reddit post from 2011 that may be some of the best evidence showing the effect that the Sushi video had on the internet outside of Japan.
• The Chicago Review of Books has an interview with Elena Ferrante translator Ann Goldstein by Tokyo-based Ian J. Battaglia. Super interesting, especially as someone who’s read the Neapolitan Novels twice through. (If you haven’t picked them up yet, don’t wait!) The most interesting details to me were: Ferrante doesn’t write in dialect (so the “he/she said in dialect” bits were not added by Goldstein) and the New Yorker (where Goldstein works on staff) paid for Italian classes. What an amazing perk.
• Matt Alt has another interesting post on the anime/manga industry, this time in response to Marlon Wayans’s cursing Demon Slayer’s success. The most interesting line: “When I asked the editor of a major manga magazine how much thought they gave to foreign consumers when planning new series, they told me none — because how would they know what foreign people wanted?”
• I discovered Ursula K Le Guin’s blog this past month. She wrote it a while back but it has been put back online. Very good reads. I’m slowly working my way through.
• Perhaps surprisingly, the new Kirin Good Ale deserves its name. It’s far better than the Premium Malts ale and is potentially the best mass-market pale ale ever brewed in Japan? I’m impressed.

I was fully prepared to hate on this beer, but somehow...it lives up to the name? It's basically a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale knock off. Maybe a tad less hoppy/bitter, but those elements are still present. It doesn't hold back.

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— Daniel Morales (@howtojapanese.com) October 12, 2025 at 6:51 PM