World Englishes, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 209222, 2006.

08832919

English in Japanese popular culture and J-Pop music

ANDREW J. MOODY*
ABSTRACT: This study of the role of English within Japanese popular culture, and especially within Japanese popular music, suggests that attitudes toward the Japanese language may be changing. Numerous scholars maintain that the Japanese conflation of race with language establishes patterns of racial discrimination in which Japanese prefer not to use the Japanese language for inter-ethnic communication. Likewise, the Japanese language is rarely treated as a language of broader communication (i.e., global communication) by the Japanese. However, the recent development of the language entertainment genre of broadcast television actively challenges these stereotypes of Japanese ethnolinguistic identity. Furthermore, language mixing within Japanese popular music, especially mixing that results in code ambiguation, attempts to redefine ethnic identity by obscuring what language is used in pop music. These phenomena are interpreted according to possible ongoing changes of Japanese ethnolinguistic identity.

INTRODUCTION1

One of the first linguistic analyses of popular music was Peter Trudgills study of pronunciation in British pop music (Trudgill, 1983). Looking at stereotypical North American versus UK pronunciations, Trudgill concluded that popular music presented a highly symbolic medium for the expression of identity and solidarity. While the expression of identity might belong to a particular artist, at the same time it is usually symbolic of attitudes and expressions which have already gained acceptance within the pop music audience. For example, Frank Zappas song Valley Girl featuring his daughter, Moon Unit Zappa, came to define and promote the valley girl speech patterns described by various linguists, including Preston (2003) and Bronstein (2000). Sociolinguistic data from popular music does not conform to the representative data that is usually gathered through random sampling, selection of informants, and classification of speech styles. However, the data is often highly emblematic of shifts in attitudes and even behaviors within a speech community. The study of English lyrics within Japanese popular music (J-Pop), then, offers to inform more about sociolinguistic and attitudinal changes underway within the community of J-Pop listeners than actual linguistic practice. This study will critically examine previous research on Japanese language attitudes in order to demonstrate that J-Pop music effectively challenges conceptions of race and language. Moreover, an examination of the use of English within another medium the emerging genre of language entertainment programs in broadcast television suggests that the change of attitudes in J-Pop may be found in other modes of expression of Japanese cultural attitudes.

* Department of English, University of Macau, Av. Padre Tomas Pereira, S.J., Taipa, Macao. E-mail: amoody@umac.mo
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Andrew J. Moody JAPANESE ATTITUDES TOWARD ENGLISH

A number of scholars have examined language attitudes in Japan, primarily for the purpose of clarifying the relationship between language and racial identity. Roy Miller (1982) presents one of the earliest appraisals of Japanese language attitudes, arguing that the myth of Japanese linguistic uniqueness is related to the belief that the racial and ethnic group is also unique. Within this ethnic environment the linguistic motivation for the mythologizing of language derives from, among other things, the belief that Japanese is intrinsically more difficult than any other language. Hence, the ability to speak such a difficult language is believed to be linked to the racial characteristics of the speakers. Laura Miller (1986) explains that this conflation of Japanese race and language culminates in the belief that ones phenotypic make-up is inseparably intertwined with language. In other words, they regard the ability to speak the Japanese language as genetic (Miller, 1986: 13). While this type of mythologizing is not uncommon among other languages and cultures, the Japanese language mythology has come to characterize discussions of language attitudes in Japan more than in other countries. In fact, some have claimed that Roy Millers criticisms of the Japanese myth of uniqueness are likewise erroneously tied to the notion that this mythology is unique to Japan, when, in fact, belief in uniqueness is anything but unique. Nevertheless, the attitude of uniqueness, what Fishman (1970) calls autonomy, has been used as an explanation for various language behaviors, including a perceived lack of proficiency in English. The perceived lack of proficiency demands an explanation of how, in spite of the nearly universal six years of English study required of Japanese students, the Japanese rarely reach high levels of proficiency. Hildebrandt and Giles (1983) demonstrate a psychological approach to this problem and claim that the threat to ethnolinguistic identity posed by knowing English proficiently is the impetus for the common strategy of learning English, but not proficiently. More recently, some scholars have made reference to the attitude of uniqueness as an explanation of the observed reluctance of Japanese speakers to use the Japanese language in communication with non-native speakers of the language. For example, Hagiwara (1990), in a ten-year longitudinal study of non-native speakers studying at Keio University, contends that:
Japanese treat nonnatives cordially as guests, always keeping the foreigner at arms length. For the foreign student, who may have thought that mastery of the language was the key to more satisfying interpersonal relationships, the discovery of this non-language-related barrier to closeness is a huge disappointment. (Hagiwara, 1990: 161, emphasis added)

Hagiwara notes that the treatment of foreigners is as guests and non-native speakers of Japanese, yet the classification of the behavior as a non-language-related barrier suggests that a more fundamental barrier operates in inter-ethnic communication. He continues to note that the judgment of nativeness is, in fact, related to race. He observes that, while Japanese are often surprised to hear well-spoken Japanese pour out of the mouth of someone who does not have a Japanese-looking face, especially if that person is a Caucasian, at the same time Japanese seem to expect Asians to have a good command of the language perhaps because Asian speakers Oriental [sic] features belie their nonnative ability with the language (p. 162). Hagiwara suggests that the reluctance to use Japanese inter-ethnically derives solely from judgments of race. Indeed, the racist
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connotations of this attitudinal reluctance to use Japanese inter-ethnically have also been discussed in Mikes (1970), Suzuki (1975), Siedensticker (1978), Brown (1990), and Ross and Shortreed (1990).2 In addition to the relationship between language attitudes and ethnic identity, a number of scholars have also examined the sociolinguistic implications of the massive borrowing from English over the past few decades and the attitudes associated with foreign loanwords.3 One of the more intensive arenas for borrowing from foreign languages, perhaps because of its reliance on persuasion with affective language, is product advertising. Haarmann (1984) attests to the prevalence of foreign loanwords in television advertising and argues that advertising uses ethnocultural stereotypes of languages and language groups to promote particular features of a product. The result, however, is a degree of language mixing that is unprecedented for a monolingual culture that does not support code switching. Haarmann explains that advertising plays a singular role in that Japanese television is the only mass medium in an almost monolingual country which produced multilingual commercial texts (1986: 219, emphasis in original). While this practice may not reflect the norms of language use within the community, Haarmann (1984, 1986) instead argues that it does promote stereotypes that keep non-Japanese cultures at a psychological distance and allows positive stereotypes to be transferred to products. The transfer of stereotypes may mean specific stereotypes for particular languages (i.e., French is seen to represent high elegance and refined taste), but Takashi (1992) identifies a more comprehensive attitude of cosmopolitanism connected to English in advertising. With 45.1 percent of loanwords in advertising used to evoke a modern and sophisticated image, she argues that nearly half of the words were borrowed not to meet lexical needs but to affect the audience who desire to be regarded as members of a cosmopolitan society (p. 141). This overview of language attitudes in Japan allows us to draw several conclusions about the sociolinguistic environment in which English functions within popular culture. First, Japanese is usually seen as the only appropriate language for intra-ethnic communication and it is frequently deemed inappropriate for inter-ethnic communication, which, whenever possible, takes place in English. Second, borrowing from foreign languages, although prevalent, does not lead to code switching or other forms of language mixing. While code switching does occur within Chinese or Korean communities in Japan (Haarmann, 1986), it is otherwise almost entirely unobserved. Finally, examination of the use of foreign languages in popular culture can tell us little about the functions of foreign languages within Japanese culture. However, we may discern the stereotypes of foreign languages and cultures as well as the images of Japan which are promoted within popular culture.
CLASSIFICATION OF TYPES OF LANGUAGE MIXING

Before proceeding to an examination of data from Japanese popular culture, it is necessary to specify what types of data might be included within an analysis of English in popular culture. While individual lexical items may easily be considered in the mixing of English and Japanese (Takashi, 1990), this study instead prefers to examine longer items which are mixed on the level of phrases or clauses. These longer portions of mixed text, although frequently found within popular culture, are quite rare within conversational Japanese. Haarmann (1986: 211) explains:
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Whenever or wherever multilingual strategies occur in modern communication in Japan, it is an indication of mass media language use. . . . With respect to the great majority of monolingual Japanese, code switching phenomena are unknown in their use of colloquial Japanese.

Unlike individual lexical items, these longer portions of English text are typically less nativized in their pronunciation or usage and they are, therefore, more easily called English. Individual lexical items are frequently borrowed into Japanese and, when borrowed, nativized according to the structural requirements of Japaneses strict CV structure.4 However, it is possible that an individual lexical item might be either less nativized or less widely accepted within the monolingual Japanese speech community, making it a nonce borrowing. Figure 1 illustrates the different kinds of language mixing that may be examined according to a cline of nativization. Finally, it should be pointed out that, for the purposes of this examination of English, no difference between loanwords and wasei eigo made in Japan English will be considered, although there are significant differences in the attitudes toward these two types of borrowings (L. Miller, 1997).

LANGUAGE ENTERTAINMENT

One aspect of Japanese popular culture under investigation here is the prevalence of English in broadcast television. While English may have had little influence in genres like dramas or documentaries, the development of the variety show genre has relied strongly on the exploration of foreign cultures and customs, and discussion of differences between languages and expression. While language-related topics are frequently on commercial television, the purpose of this examination is simply to examine a few representative examples of what I call language entertainment and to consider some of the ways that the language behavior modeled in the shows does not conform to the attitudinal behaviors described above. Instead, it is argued that the language entertainment genre imaginatively recreates language behaviors according to the desire for cosmopolitanism described by Takashi (1992).

Language mixing
Individual lexical items Loanwords and wasei eigo Most nativized Phrases or clauses

Nonce borrowings

Code switching Least nativized

Figure 1. Types of language mixing

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Childrens programs There are, on commercial Japanese television, a number of programs designed for language instruction. For example, a survey of television programming in Table 1 lists language programs that are designed for both adults and children. While adult language instruction programs usually follow a routine emphasizing the study of specific structures with little attention to entertainment, this is rarely the case with childrens programs.

Table 1. Instructional English and entertainment English programs on Japanese television Name of program Childrens programs (NHK) Eigo-de Asoboa Lets Play in English Eigorianb English [A]lien Suupaa Eigorian Super English [A]lien Adult programs Bera-Bera Station/Sma Station Fluency Station/SMAP Station Eigo-de Shabera Naito: Can You Speak Englishc Adult instruction programs (NHK) Mini Eigo: Tossa-no Hitokoto Mini-English: The Impromptu Word Jissen Bijinesu Eigo Practical Business English Eikaiwa: Tooku & Tooku English Conversation: Talk & Talk Hyakugo-de Sutaato Eikaiwa Starting English Conversation with 100 Words Imakara Denaoshi Eigojuku Starting Over from Now English Class
a

Target audience Pre-school and kindergarten Grades 13 Grades 46

Broadcast schedule Twice daily MondayFriday Twice weekly Twice weekly

Young people General

Saturday, 11:00 p.m. Monday, 11:1511:45 p.m.

General

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, 6:456:50 a.m. Wednesday, 11:1011:30 p.m. Tuesday, 11:0011:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, 11:0011:10 a.m. Thursday, 11:1011:30 p.m.

General General General

General

The grammatically correct transcription of the verb form lets play is asobou, where the final vowel is a long vowel. The transcription used above, however, represents a transcription from the Japanese title, which is in hiragana script rather than the more conventional kanji and hiragana scripts. b This title is a type of blending in Japanese. The two words eigo English and eirian alien both begin with the same vowel sound /ei/. The title substitutes the entire word eigo for the first element of the word eirian, creating the word eigorian. The choice of an alien as an English speaker is interesting in relation to the ethnic stereotype that English is a foreigners, i.e. an aliens, language. However, the Japanese term eirian does not denote foreigner as it does in English. c This title should be classified as an example of code ambiguation, which is discussed below. The word naito night is a fully nativized English loanword in Japanese and is written in katakana, a script largely reserved for loanwords. Although the written form of the title mixes English loanwords in katakana script and native Japanese words in kanji and hiragana scripts, when read aloud it becomes Eigo Shabera-naito. In this form, naito functions as a modal modifier of the verb shaberu to speak, meaning we must speak. Therefore, the title produces two possible meanings (1) speaking English night, or (2) we must speak English. The second half of the title is not a translation, but rather the English title of the show.
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Instead, the emphasis in childrens programs is on realistically modeling specific language structures in an entertaining manner. Below is an excerpt from the childrens television program Eigo-de Asobo [Lets Play in English]. The program targets an audience of children who have not yet begun primary school. The excerpt quoted below contains three characters: JB, Maya, and Eric. JB is a green puppet, approximately 180 cm (6 feet) tall. Maya is an Asian girl about 6 years old. Eric is a white man who is probably in his mid thirties. All three characters speak both English and Japanese fluently although Eric and JB do not appear to be native speakers of Japanese. The English used in the program is, broadly speaking, North American English. The excerpt below is one minute long. Japanese text is italicized with a translation given underneath.
(1) JB: A gift from Eric? What is it? Maya: Mite, mite. Look, look. JB: Oh, wow. Thats great. Kite mite. Try it on. Maya: Okay. JB: A cowboy hat and a vest. Woah. Thats great. [Eric enters] Eric: That looks good, Maya. Maya: Oh, Thank you, Eric. Eric: Youre welcome. Youre a great cowgirl. Maya: Yokatta. Aa soda, kore-wo kite kondo-no baton taikai-ni dechaotto. Thats good. Oh, yeah, Im going to wear this to the next baton competition. JB: Hoho, Good idea. Zettai medatsuyo. Youll certainly stand out. Eric: Aa sodatta. JB, rajio-no jikan dayo. Oh yeah. JB, its time for the radio. JB: Ee, mou? Oh, already? Eric: Come on, lets get going. JB: Ja, Maya, atodene. See you later, Maya. Maya: Gambattene. Do a good job.

Eigo-de Asobo is produced by the publicly funded NHK (Nippon Housou Kyoukai, Japan Broadcasting Corporation), and is broadcast throughout Japan twice daily, five days a week. Like many of the NHK educational programs, parents may buy a textbook as a supplement to the program. Within the textbook, additional practice is given for the vocabulary and structures that are targeted for each program. Some of the structures and vocabulary within the excerpt above are targeted for this episode, while others have been introduced in previous episodes. Any other material, however, is spoken in Japanese in order to focus attention upon the target structures and vocabulary. The result of this strategy, however, is a code-switched text unlike anything that would normally appear in Japanese conversation. While it is clear that the purpose of this is pedagogical, a social message is also conveyed. First, inter-ethnic communication easily takes place in both English and Japanese and neither is preferred or avoided in either
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inter-ethnic or intra-ethnic communication. Second, the boundaries between the two languages are clearly marked by clause boundaries and, more often, by the boundaries of participants turns. In the excerpt quoted in (1) above, switches between English and Japanese do not occur within a single sentence or clause, and only twice within a single turn of a participant. Finally, loanwords in (1) are fully nativized within the spoken dialogue. The two loanwords used, baton baton and rajio radio, are produced as Japanese words and most speakers of English who do not speak Japanese would probably be unaware that the two words of English origin are used. In terms of the development of an emerging genre of language entertainment programming, the childrens programming cited in Table 1 clearly maintains English instruction as the primary goal. However, entertainment is also a fundamental objective of these programs. Within the development of the language entertainment genre, childrens programs represent an important antecedent in the development of the genre.

Adult programs Currently NHK broadcasts five English instruction programs targeting an adult audience. These programs, however, have not been considered as part of the emerging genre of language entertainment. Within the various genres that have developed on Japanese television, quiz shows and talk shows frequently highlight topics related to English or other languages. More recently, however, shows that are focused entirely on the experience of Japanese people speaking English have begun to appear. The first of these shows to be discussed is a program called Eigo-de Shabera Naito: Can You Speak English (see Table 1). The NHK program features three hosts; two are Japanese, a man named Kazuya Matsumoto and a woman named Yumiko Shaku, and the third is a white North American man named Patrick Harlan. All three of the hosts are fluent bilinguals. In the excerpt quoted in (2) below, the show focuses on several Japanese people who live in New York City. The program introduces a celebrity named Nokko, who, in the mid 1980s to early 1990s, was the lead singer in a successful J-Pop band called Rebecca. Currently, Nokko lives in New York with her husband Goh Hotoda, who is a record producer. Given the frequency with which J-Pop celebrities appear in language entertainment programs, the development of the genre has likely been strongly influenced by J-Pop English. As with the childrens program cited in (1), the English used in this program is broadly modeled on North American English. The excerpt below is 52 seconds long. Japanese text is italicized with a translation given underneath.
(2) Patrick: Welcome, live from New York, Miss Nokko-san. Ja sassoku kochira-no kamera-ni mukatte, jikoshoukai onegaishimasu. Now give an introduction to this camera, please. Nokko: Hi. Thank you inviting me. I am living, living, uh, liveling regend, vokko, ato, eto. Mo ikkai onegaishimasu. Well, uh. One more time, please. Announcer: Kinchogimi-no Nokko-san-ga tasuke-wo motometa kono dansei-wa ittai? Who is the person that nervous Nokko goes to to be held. Kotae-wa nochihodo akirakani. The answer will come later.

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Andrew J. Moody Nokko: Hi. Im Nokko, a living legend. Thank you for invite, invite me. Its been a long, long time to be on the TV show. Thats where I a little bit nervous, but glamorous still. Thank you very much.

Like the other programs produced by NHK, Eigo-de Shabera Naito has a series of books available to accompany the program. The excerpt above is interesting because it is an NG no good, or blooper. When Nokko is nervous, she becomes tongue-tied and unable to even say her name correctly, saying vokko, instead. Immediately she switches into Japanese, pointing out that English is only being used for entertainment with the audience, not for communication with the crew. This is also emphasized by Patricks Japanese instructions to Nokko to speak to the camera. As with this television program, though, the image of Japanese communication that is presented is one in which Japanese may be used irrespective of race or ethnicity. With the creation of this emergent genre of language entertainment programs in Japan, it should be emphasized that English is not a requirement for enjoyment of the program. The only people on the program who speak English regularly are the three hosts and their guests. Any other additional information in the program, such as the announcers question of who Nokko goes to when she is nervous, are presented in Japanese. Furthermore, all the English information in the program appears in subtitled simultaneous translation. Unlike the childrens programming, enjoyment of Eigo-de Shabera Naito does not require that viewers understand the English of the program. Eigo-de Shabera Naito is produced for a general audience. A program that is geared toward a younger (e.g., 1530-year-old) audience is Bera-Bera Station [Fluency Station]. This program is, in fact, one recurring segment of a variety show featuring the J-Pop music group SMAP. The name of the fan program is Sma Station, in which Sma is the first part of the bands name. The excerpt of the program quoted below as (3) was originally broadcast in the summer of 2004. One of the members of the J-Pop vocal group, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, starred in the Japanese-made Korean-language movie Hoteru Beenusu [Hotel Venus]. When the film won the Moscow International Film Festivals Perspectives award, the television producers took the opportunity to take all five members of SMAP to Russia for the film festivals award ceremony and touring around Moscow. This is the context of the recurring Bera-Bera Station segment, in which one member of SMAP, Shingo Katori, must try to communicate with someone in English. For the Moscow special, Shingo sits in a Moscow coffee shop with several Russian film festival attendees to talk to them about their impressions of the movie. In the excerpt quoted in (3) Shingo formally talks to a woman about her impressions of Chonan Kan, the Korean stage name of his bandmate Tsuyoshi. After the brief interview, he begins speaking to another patron in the coffee shop about his own role in the movie. The excerpted segment lasts a little more than one minute. Japanese speech is transcribed in italics with a translation below. Russian speech is not transcribed, but the simultaneous Japanese subtitles of Russian speech are translated into English and included below.
(3) Shingo: How did you like Chonan Kans acting? Interviewee: He is change. Shingo: Oh, oh oh. Interviewee: He look very tall, very beautiful, very smart. But nature, not so same impression. Shingo: Sounandayo. Ore-mo sakki yutta sa mukou-no intabyuu dene. Thats right. I said the same thing at the interview over there.
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Interviewee: So good. Shingo: I think so. [pause] Did you notice me? Interviewee: Sorry. Shingo: Glasses, smoke, hat. Interviewee: Its you, and speak English. Shingo: English, English. Me! Interviewee: No. Shingo: No [after the interview, speaking to the camera crew] Shingo: Oredatte wakattenai hito kekkou irundana. There are so many people who didnt notice that it was me. Patron: [speaks in Russian, translated from the Japanese subtitles] I wonder if youre one of the guys from STEP?5 Shingo: Kizuita? Did you notice? Patron: STEP? Shingo: Oredatte? Notice me? Patron: What language is it that you are speaking? Shingo: Ore-ga detetandayo, boushi-no kou tabako kouyatte. Pa yatte It was me, in the hat with a cigarette like this. Doing pa [puffing sound] kou memememe, wowowowowo. like memememe, wowowowowo Patron: What is that? Shingo: Un, ore ore ore. Yeah, it was me, me, me. Patron: Who are you? A: Detetandamon. I was in the movie. Patron: Huh? [both laugh]

While the formal interview of (3) proceeds much along the lines that we expect from the survey of Japanese language attitudes English is used exclusively in inter-ethnic communication the second half of the excerpt shows a radically different style of communication and not necessarily intentional. In the second half of the excerpt the interviewee has left and Shingo is speaking directly to the camera crew in Japanese about the fact that no one has noticed that he also had a role in the film. When the patron sitting at another table in the coffee shop asks Shingo what language he is speaking, Shingo continues talking about his role, only he speaks to the patron as if she understands his Japanese. His onomatopoeic memememe, wowowowowo are accompanied with hand motions that suggest that Shingo is about to fall down as he walks across the room. This, however, only contributes to the womans confusion; according to the Japanese subtitles, she only wants to know what language he is speaking. Again, the image of the Japanese language that is presented within this segment is substantially different from the attitudes described by R. Miller (1982) and others. Shingo portrays Japanese as a language that is potentially useful for inter-ethnic communication and, in this case, international communication. While his communication in Japanese ultimately fails, Shingo demonstrates that its failure is not a result of his unwillingness to use Japanese to communicate with the Russian woman. Because this conversation is spontaneous and unscripted, it appears that it arises
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from a genuine lack of prejudgment of whether Shingos interlocutor will understand him or not. Like the other programs discussed above, Bera-Bera Station produces a book that can be used to study the English used in the segment. This type of resource adds to the educational value of language entertainment programs and suggests legitimacy to parents who might be tempted to label the programs as nonsense. However, the portrayal of language attitudes in these programs also suggests that Japanese may hold contradictory attitudes toward the Japanese language. If R. Miller (1982) and Hagiwara (1990) are correct, the type of code switching and inter-ethnic use of Japanese that appears in all three of the programs is quite rare. However, the goal of these programs is not to portray speech, but, as the instructional materials suggest, to model it. What is modeled, in addition to structure and vocabulary, is an attitude that treats Japanese as sufficient for inter-ethnic communication. Hence, the use of Japanese is just as cosmopolitan as the use of English. Language entertainment programs respond to a popular desire to see Japan as a cosmopolitan culture, and to see the Japanese language as a language of broader communication. In this way, these programs do not simply model English, but they model attitudes that are not frequently encountered in everyday Japanese life.

J-POP ENGLISH

Recently, a number of studies have examined the lyrical content of Japanese popular music (Tansman, 1996; Stanlaw, 2000, 2004; Yano, 2000; Dowd and Kujiraoka, 2002; Misaki, 2002; Pennycook, 2003). In particular, Moody (2000 and 2001) examine the rate at which English lyrics appear within a survey of 307 songs from the Oricon weekly top-50 charts of 2000. Table 2 presents the results of the study in which nearly two-thirds of J-Pop songs were found to contain English lyrics.6 J-Pop English lyrics are quite frequent, and Moody and Mastsumoto (2003) have identified four functions of English lyrics within J-Pop. These are illustrated in Table 3. While English lyrics may represent nothing more than the rendering of English loanwords in roman letters rather than the more conventional katakana writing system, they may also represent a form of hybridization called code ambiguation. Because it represents the most significant challenge to conceptions of ethnolinguistic identity, code ambiguation is the most innovative function of J-Pop English. It has been recognized that ambiguation of the speakers ethnic identity is a common function of code switching and that with the use of strategic ambiguity, social functions may take place without the interference of ethnicity (Heller, 1988). Code ambiguation, however, is a form of bilingual creativity that uses material from at least two languages in such a way that it is unclear which language is used. (4)(10) below are all cited as examples of code ambiguation in Moody and Matsumoto (2003).

Table 2. J-Pop songs containing English lyrics (Moody, 2001) Songs containing English and Japanese lyrics Songs containing no English lyrics Songs entirely in English
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142 79 6

(62%) (35%) (3%)

English in Japanese popular culture and J-Pop music Table 3. Functions of language mixing in J-Pop (Moody and Matsumoto, 2003) Roles Musical filler Description Words like yeah or oh appear in romaji (Roman script) and may therefore be counted as English words. The words are pronounced as Japanese words.

219

Single words and phrases

Words like jump or kiss may be inserted within a text that is otherwise Japanese. The English words do not disrupt the Japanese grammatical structure. The English words may be widely understood loanwords, or nonce borrowings. Sentences or clauses may be inserted, usually within the space of an entire line. Often the clauses or sentences translate the preceding Japanese text into English. English (or any foreign language) words or Japanese words are used with possible meanings in both languages. This blending, or ambiguating, of the two codes is often done at the written level, while at the aural level there does not appear to be any blending.

Clauses and sentences

Code ambiguation

(4) So, Saint name Saint name, Burning love oimotometeru [seeking] Sennen Sennen [1000 years 1000 years] Crazy Love ichigeki mune-ni abite [getting a stroke on the chest] from Hallelujah, Burning Love/Hiromi Go (English Saint name mimics the Japanese text sennen 1000 years) (5) dont U Think? I wana [trap] B wiy U [dont you think? I want to be with you] from Gibusu [A Plaster Cast]/Ringo Shiina (Japanese wana trap is meant to be read as English wanna want to) (6) I, I, I, I Tender from Atto Iu Ma-no Yume-no Tonight [Night of Dreams]/The Southern All Stars (sounds like Japanese aittendaa I love you!) (7) I, I, I, I Surrender from Atto Iu Ma-no Yume-no Tonight [Night of Dreams]/The Southern All Stars (sounds like Japanese aisarendaa, a simplified form of aishitendan Ill be loved!) (8) Skipped Beat, Skipped Beat from Sukippu Biito (Skipped Beat) [Skip Beat]/Kuwata Band (sounds like Japanese sukebee a lecher) (9) Cry Ai Cry [Cry, I Cry] from Cry Ai Cry [Cry, I Cry]/The Southern All Stars (Japanese ai sad is meant to be read as English I) (10) Ima ni-mo yuugata Hold on me [Almost, youve got a hold on me] from Yuugata Hold On Me [Youve Got A Hold On Me]/The Southern All Stars (Japanese yuugata evening is meant to be read as English you gotta Youve got a)

In each of these examples English is used to produce a meaning in Japanese, or alternatively Japanese is used to produce a meaning in English. While it is true that many of these uses of code ambiguity would go unnoticed without examination of the printed lyric sheet, there may be important reasons why lyricists choose to use code ambiguation. For
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example, (8) uses the English words skipped beat to stand in for a somewhat lewd Japanese term. The use of code ambiguation in this example injects a level of playfulness into a text that might otherwise appear offensive. The code ambiguation suggests that the singer is not really singing what it sounds like he is singing. While this analysis explains a number of the examples of stigmatized language cited in Moody and Matsumoto (2003), it does not account for all, or even most of the examples of code ambiguation. On a sociolinguistic level, code ambiguation, by reducing the perceptual differences between English and Japanese, may also function to redefine ethnolinguistic identity by questioning the myth of Japanese uniqueness. If English text is able to suggest a meaning in Japanese, and vice versa, then it is difficult to maintain the myth of Japanese uniqueness. Instead, the Japanese language begins to function within a domain that is also occupied by English. In his analysis of language and identity with the Japanese Latin salsa band Orquest de la Luz (OL), Hosokawa (1999) argues that purist niche bands like OL respond to the feeling among many Japanese youth for the loss of Japans genuine cultural identity (p. 509). In relation to pop music, Hosokawa continues:
Generally referred to as kayokyoku, or J-pop today, mainstream popular music tends to be heavily influenced by Western styles but mixed with something Japanese in the lyrics, rhythm, melody and/ or arrangement. (Japanese lyrics are particularly crucial for nationwide popularity.) (p. 519)

The J-Pop mode of mixing Japanese forms and content with Western in search of identity, then, has further linguistic implications. When verbal codes are ambiguated in the manner that Moody and Matsumoto (2003) describe, ethnic identity is potentially obscured. For example, Moody and Matsumoto demonstrate that the J-Pop band Love Psychedelico Englishizes their Japanese pronunciation to the point that it is not always clear which language is being used. It is no longer clear whether the songs are sung by a Japanese speaker in English, or by an English speaker in Japanese. This ambiguity has even led one commentator to incorrectly guess that the lead singer grew up during her teenage years in the United States (Konuki, 2003: 80). By ambiguating her Japanese pronunciation, listeners doubt that the singer is Japanese, and suspect that she must have lived abroad in order to produce Englishized Japanese. In examining the role of language and identity in popular culture, it must be remembered that the expressions of identity are not necessarily representative of the speech communitys attitudes. Instead, individual expressions of identity can be used to question or mock those of the speech community. Likewise, individual expressions may function as a vehicle of change in identity, and an expression of the communitys desires rather than practice. In the case of the language entertainment television genre and J-Pop music, it seems that the use of English responds to a desire to question the domains of the Japanese language, and to extend the use of Japanese to inter-ethnic communication. While the myth of uniqueness may still be largely unquestioned, it should be noted that popular culture responds to market forces within the greater population. If an image of the Japanese language or identity is unacceptable, it will not be allowed to find greater expression. This is not the case, however, with the attitudes represented in the language entertainment genre a genre that continues to expand in popularity or by code ambiguation in J-Pop, a practice that becomes increasingly common. Instead, it seems that the images of Japanese language and ethnicity presented in popular culture express the desire for a more cosmopolitan and globally influential language.
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English in Japanese popular culture and J-Pop music NOTES

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1. Much of the research for this paper was completed with the assistance of Aichi Shukutoku University, Nagoya, Japan. The author also gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Setsuko Hisakawa in gathering much of the television data used in this study and of Yuko Matsumoto for her helpful comments and assistance in preparation of the manuscript. Any errors are, of course, my own. Unless quoted from other sources, the translations from Japanese are the authors. 2. A number of scholars also claim that these attitudes have disappeared in contemporary Japanese society. See Gonnerman (1983), Saint-Jacques (1983), Wallacker (1983), and Dewolf (1985). 3. See Stanlaw (2004: 26578) and Loveday (1996: 77113) for discussions of the history of attitudes toward English loanwords. 4. For a description of how English and other languages loanwords are nativized see Loveday (1996: 11456). 5. It is not entirely clear what the speaker means by the use of the word STEP. I have translated in all capital letters to show that the speaker has possibly confused the name of the group SMAP with STEP. At the same time, it is possible that she is referring to him as the member of SMAP as a dancing group and uses the word step to refer to such a group. 6. For the purposes of these studies of J-Pop English, English lyrics were defined as lyrics written in roman letters on the CD liner notes. No attempt was made to try and measure the degree of nativization with which the lyrics were sung, and, therefore, it is impossible to determine whether these lyrics fall into the categories of loanwords, nonce borrowings, or code switches. For the purposes of this paper, however, it should be understood that J-Pop English may refer to the full range of language mixing described in Figure 1.

DISCOGRAPHY
Go, Hiromi (2000) Hallelujah, Burning Love. Sony (Japan) 4684. Kuwata Band (1986) Skippu Biito (Skipped Beat). Victor 35302. Shiina, Ringo (2000) Gibusu. Toshiba EMI 22051. Southern All Stars, The (1984) Atto iu ma-no yume-no tonight. Ninkimono-de Ikou. Victor 60217. Southern All Stars, The (1984) Yuugata hold on me. Ninkimono-de Ikou. Victor 60217. Southern All Stars, The (1998) Cry Ai Cry. Victor 30237. Zappa, Frank (1982) Valley Girl. Ship Arriving Too Late To Save a Drowning Witch. RKODisc USA 10537.

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2006 The Author. Journal compilation 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.