00:12
Lilico
Hello, listeners. Welcome to Japanese Point of View.
Japanese Point of View is a podcast show that shares topics related to Japan.
The show is hosted by two Japanese women, Lilico and Maikou.
Mostly spoken in English.
Maikou
Okay.
Can I say something I noticed from the first episode?
Lilico
Yes, please.
Maikou
It's about my not pronunciation.
Well, actually pronunciation as well, but the way of speaking.
So, I just did it right now, but when Japanese people speak English,
we tend to like speak upwards to the end of the sentence.
I did it already a few times.
In Japan, when we talk to each other, we say like だよね? Right?
So, everything tends to go upwards when we talk.
So, I was like considering not to do it, but after when I listened to my audio,
everything was like a question.
Really? I didn't notice that.
I'm glad if you did not notice and if it's like okay.
Lilico
Well, since you pointed that out, that kind of thing applies to me as well.
Maikou
The way I talk has some 癖.
Lilico
The way I talk has some sort of characteristic.
Everyone has it for sure, but I'll see.
I'll listen to my recording and find out.
Maikou
Yeah, you should.
Lilico
Anyway, today's topic we discussed a little and we want to talk about ソラミミ.
I think ソラミミ is kind of a worldly known word because of ソラミミアワー.
Maikou
Ah, ソラミミアワー.
Lilico
The Japanese show that have been aired for like 20 years,
but sadly it finished last year in 2023.
When I heard that news, I was really shocked.
Maikou
Yeah, I was sad.
Lilico
I've looked up on how to say ソラミミ in English
and there wasn't proper word that could translate just the way we want to.
Maikou
Often the translation services say mishearing,
but actually ソラミミ is kind of like a funny thing.
It's not just mishearing.
So it's not like, what did you say?
It's more of like, it sounds like a different thing.
It's Japanese, but it sounds like English or the other way.
So maybe the English songs can sound like Japanese.
03:03
Maikou
And that was the ソラミミアワー show.
Lilico
Yeah, and I looked up on how to say ソラミミ in English
and there were a few ways to say it.
One is, you must be hearing things,
but it's just a sentence.
It's not a noun.
It's not a word.
And there was another one that was モンデグリーン.
I hope the pronunciation is right.
And it actually came from the sentence laid him on the green
and then someone misheard it as lady mondegreen.
It just shortened somehow and then it just came as mondegreen.
And apparently it's the word for ソラミミ
in English spoken countries.
But in the article that I looked up,
it says like some English native speakers might not know the word mondegreen.
So if you are listening to this and you know that word,
I'm not really sure how's the ratio like people know this word.
Maybe like younger generation might not know
Maikou
because it seems like mondegreen is a little old word.
Yeah, I heard this for the first time today when you introduced it to me.
Lilico
Yeah, same, same.
I didn't know the word.
Maikou
Yeah, we looked up on Google and everything then found mondegreen.
Lilico
Yeah.
So anyway, we want to talk a little bit about the mishearing じゃないね
Maikou
ソラミミ
Lilico
ソラミミね
Let's say ソラミミ for this episode.
If you're listening from the beginning, you must know the word by now.
And the ソラミミ song that I want to introduce is the cat songs
made by the artist called The Kiffness.
I'm into his songs so much lately
that I've been listening to his cat songs all day long.
I was listening to it today as well.
I was singing along as well.
And I introduced a few of them to Michael as well.
Maikou
Yeah.
Lilico
I hope you liked it.
Maikou
Yeah, I liked them a lot.
The cats are pretty and the songs were good.
Lilico
Well, majority of his songs and his cat songs,
the voice of the cats that are used in his songs are mostly annoyed, frustrated.
But I like cat voice in general.
I like listening to it.
Maikou
Yeah, they're cute.
Lilico
Yeah, they're cute.
And I like all of them.
But if I have to choose one of them as number one,
I would choose Big Billy.
Maikou
Ah, Big Billy, the one you introduced to me.
06:00
Lilico
Yeah, we can't use it in the episode as for the copyright reasons.
But the Big Billy song is like, you know,
just the original one was from a video that a cat was just being annoyed
and just saying some random word.
Yeah, mumbling, I would say.
Maikou
Mumbling, yeah.
Lilico
He or she was saying like, I'm Big Billy.
Maikou
Yeah, it sounded like I'm Big Billy.
Lilico
And then it just sounded like I'm Big Billy.
Maikou
Yeah, I didn't know that the voice was the made up thing at first
because it really sounded like Big Billy.
Lilico
Yeah, Soramimi is really strong.
If you watch the video with subtitles,
it's so automatic that you can't just hear it.
It's just so strong.
Maikou
It's just Big Billy, nothing else.
It just sounds like Big Billy only.
Lilico
Yes.
Anyway, the Big Billy is the gold truck.
I really like it.
Also, there are a few yelling cats.
Yeah, they were creating melodies.
Was it analog cat?
I really wish I could use it in the episode.
Maikou
Yeah, just introduce in the episode.
Lilico
Ah, Please Go Away.
The song Please Go Away.
Meow.
Maikou
I should listen to that one too.
Lilico
I like the melody so much.
Yeah.
He also created the different version of this song, flamenco version,
which really sounds like Spanish.
Maikou
Yeah, if it's flamenco.
I really love it.
Lilico
He got so viral that he's now touring the world.
Maikou
Really?
With the cat songs?
Lilico
Yes.
Really?
And people are singing along with it.
Maikou
Wow.
That's like unbelievable.
So everyone's going like Big Billy something.
Lilico
Oh, yes, yes, yes, for sure.
Everyone's saying like, Big Billy.
Maikou
I definitely want to go to that show to watch him.
Yeah, the cat song.
I want to sing along.
I would love to go.
Lilico
Yeah.
Maikou
Yeah.
Lilico
If he comes to Japan, I would love to join.
We should go.
We should.
I've already been doing, you know, singing along with some random cat noises.
Really?
Maikou
So you're already like doing it at home.
Lilico
Yes, I'm doing it at home.
I'm singing along.
I'm dancing with his songs.
09:01
Lilico
That's totally crazy.
Maikou
Along with his songs.
Yeah.
Lilico
Since I introduced The Kiffness to you, you must be listening.
Yeah.
Maikou
From now on.
Lilico
Yeah.
I'm not saying like you should listen to these songs.
Maikou
Yeah, but I should.
Lilico
I should.
Maikou
It's so good.
So maybe tomorrow morning or something, I might be singing with not noticing myself.
Lilico
He's creating a lot of different songs.
Not just cats, but he's creating a song with a cockatiel, with dogs, with some artists as well.
Maikou
Yeah.
And he had the window-punching mom mashup song.
Lilico
Yeah, it's on Instagram.
Yeah.
So that video was like, he covered Seven Nation Army song.
You know.
The famous song with random guy hitting his car window.
Maikou
I saw a lot of like the window-punching man memes at the time.
That was in a trend.
And then at that time I saw him, but forgot for a while.
Then you sent to me the Kiffness video.
Then I suddenly remembered, oh, I saw this one before.
It was so funny.
Lilico
It's such a shame that I can't just describe this.
I'm not sure how I can just tell how funny it is on podcast.
It's just too hard.
But if you watch the video, I'll link it in the description section.
Maikou
Yeah, everyone should see the video.
Lilico
Yeah, this is just too funny.
The guy Kiffness creates a melody with some random guy hitting his car window.
And then he created a rhythm with the blinker.
I like the lyrics as well.
I'm gonna make a song with this random guy hitting my window.
Just too talented.
Maikou
That was so funny.
Lilico
There are a lot of songs that I want to introduce,
but you should better go on his Instagram or his YouTube channel
and then watch the actual video.
That would be way...
You can enjoy that way more.
Maikou
Entertaining.
Lilico
Speaking of Soramimi,
we haven't actually said anything related to Japan so far in this episode.
Unfortunately.
Maikou
We should.
Lilico
Yeah, we should.
Speaking of Soramimi,
we just want to dig a little more about Soramimi Hour.
Have you ever watched Soramimi Hour, Michael?
Maikou
Yeah, I love to watch Soramimi Hour.
So it was one section of a TV show of a famous comedian in Japan.
12:01
Lilico
Which is called Tamori Club.
Maikou
Yeah, Tamori Club.
But when I watched Tamori Club,
I was hoping to see Soramimi Hour.
I was watching it for Soramimi Hour.
It was so funny.
I liked it a lot.
Lilico
It's only like a three minutes section in the show,
but it's really short.
Maikou
It's not the main contents of the show.
Well, actually, sometimes it becomes the main contents,
like Soramimi Hour best hits for the whole show sometimes,
but it's just kind of a yearly or half year,
once in half a year or something.
So I was really hoping for that two or three minutes of Soramimi Hour
when I watched that show.
Lilico
Yeah, so for those who have never watched
or who don't even know what Soramimi Hour is,
it's like a short corner of introducing songs
that are not sung in Japanese,
but sounds like Japanese.
It's pretty accurate, isn't it?
Maikou
Yeah, it's an audience based section.
So you can send an email to Tamori Club
with some kind of a song which is not in Japanese
and also write along with it
what Japanese you heard from the song.
And if it's good, it's aired on TV.
Lilico
It's aired on TV, plus if it's like real good,
the host, Tamori, would give some rewards.
There are like three different types of rewards
and then the best would get the...
Maikou
Giveaway reward.
Lilico
Yeah, jacket or something.
That's the highest you can get.
Maikou
It depends on how good the Soramimi is.
The quality.
Lilico
Yeah, the quality of Soramimi.
Also, you should better watch the actual video,
which is violating copyright, I guess,
but it's on YouTube everywhere.
So if you look up on the word Soramimi Hour,
S-O-R-A-M-I-M-I-H-O-U-R would work, I guess.
If you can look it up in Japanese,
that would work better.
If you can understand Japanese as well,
that would work.
That would be funny.
Maikou
We were talking about the Rage Against the Machine song.
Lilico
Yeah, they are the legend.
Maikou
Yeah, that one was a really good legend,
Soramimi, in the show.
I remembered about it when you told me.
It reminded me of when I watched the show.
Lilico
Yeah.
Rage Against the Machine is like the legend
in the corner, Soramimi Hour.
They created a lot of Soramimi unintentionally.
Maikou
Yeah, unintentionally.
It's of course not their intention,
15:00
Maikou
but unintentionally,
Lilico
they were like Soramimi singers in the end.
They won the award three times in a row
for the Soramimi Award.
Yeah.
I guess it was held once a year.
Maikou
Yeah.
Lilico
I guess 2014, 2015, 2016, I guess, around that time.
Maikou
Yeah, it was chosen as the best Soramimi of the year.
Lilico
Yes.
Maikou
It was like legendary in the show.
Lilico
Legendary.
Maikou
I bet that many people remembered about
Rage Against the Machine through Soramimi Hour,
even if they didn't know the band in the beginning.
For sure.
Lilico
Yeah, same for me too.
I wasn't listening to Rage Against the Machine until...
Oh, really?
Yeah.
Maikou
I think I knew Rage Against the Machine for the first time
through interviews from Maximum The Hormone.
Lilico
Oh, really?
Maikou
I think.
Lilico
Maximum The Hormone.
Maikou
I was not like a frequent listener,
but suddenly I noticed that,
oh, they're in Soramimi Hour too.
Lilico
Actually, I am a huge fan of System of a Down as well,
the metal band.
Yeah.
I think the first contact wasn't Soramimi Hour, actually,
for the System of a Down,
but they are the regular as well for Soramimi Hour.
Maikou
Yeah.
Maximum The Hormone is in a way like Soramimi,
so we kind of tend to like Soramimi bands.
Lilico
Soramimi Hour really likes metal bands.
Maikou
Yeah, metal kind of, yeah.
Lilico
I think that the reason why that happens
is because metal bands tend to have a lot of noise
that it's kind of hard to hear,
so it's kind of easy to create Soramimi.
Maikou
Yeah, it turns out to be Soramimi all the time
when you sing it in a metal kind of way
or a punk rock kind of way.
It suddenly sounds like Soramimi.
It's easier to interpret to Soramimi.
Lilico
Yeah, but Rage Against the Machine is a legend.
I still remember the three songs that were...
Nominees?
Nominees, no, it actually won the award.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Three songs that won the award.
The first one was Pan, Pan, Yashoku no Pan.
I think it was, the actual lyric was like burn, burn.
Ah, yeah.
You should burn or something.
Maikou
I always forget the actual lyrics since I'm Japanese.
When I hear it as Japanese,
it only sounds like Pan, Pan, Yashoku no Pan.
Lilico
The actual lyric is burn, burn, yes, you're gonna burn.
Ah, burn, burn, you should gonna burn, right.
In Japanese, it sounds like Pan, Pan, Yashoku no Pan.
18:01
Maikou
Pan, Pan.
Lilico
Pan, Pan, Yashoku no Pan means bread, bread, bread you eat in midnight.
Maikou
Which is kind of nonsense, but that's Soramimi.
You know, the Soramimi is funny because it doesn't have any context.
It's kind of just random made up sentence in Japanese.
Lilico
I also remember the best song that I really like is the Killing in the Name.
It's so long, but...
This was really popular among Japanese people as well.
Like I introduced this song with Soramimi to my friend back then.
She really liked it as well.
What's the actual lyric for that?
Maikou
I looked up then, it says, now you do what they told ya.
Lilico
Now they do what they told ya.
Now you do what they told ya.
Maikou
Now you do what they told ya.
Lilico
Now you do what they told ya.
Maikou
What they told ya sounds like what they told ya.
Dousundai!
Lilico
Dousundai!
Dousundai!
Yeah, Dousundai.
Maikou
So, Dousundai means what are you going to do now?
It's kind of like criticizing someone.
Nagetowatte tochan is like...
Well, this is nonsense, but in the video aired in the show,
son was asking to his father to break a nugget in half.
So there are a lot of nuggets piled up in front of them.
And then the son says, nagetowatte tochan.
Then the father breaks the nugget in half.
Then he breaks like 20 nuggets or something.
Then the mother came and said, Dousundai!
Lilico
Dousundai!
Yeah.
Now you do what they told ya.
Maikou
Now you do what they told ya.
Now you do what they told ya.
Now you do what they told ya.
Nagetowatte tochan.
Lilico
Nagetowatte tochan.
Maikou
I really like the part that Sorami Mihawa makes up the videos really good.
It's like karaoke videos.
We have in karaoke.
So it's quite a good quality.
If you write the lyrics in Japanese and send,
then the Sorami Mihawa staffs make perfect video.
Lilico
Footage?
Maikou
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Lilico
Yeah, footage with the...
Maikou
Yeah, the footage, yeah.
Lilico
That links to the Sorami Mihawa?
Maikou
Yeah, the nugget breaking video.
Being like scolded from their mothers.
Lilico
The actors were perfect as well.
Yeah, actors were perfect.
Maikou
I was always wondering which office they're asking to,
which agency they're using.
Lilico
They have potential for comedians as well.
21:01
Maikou
Yeah, they look like ordinary people,
but they're like kind of comedians or actors, actually.
Lilico
Oh, I really miss them.
Maikou
Yeah, I really miss them.
Lilico
Yeah, we can't see them out of Sorami Mihawa.
No.
Maikou
I really miss them also.
Me too.
Lilico
Wow.
Maikou
Yeah, I think this song itself is quite a serious song
with a solid message.
But nugget what they taught us
suddenly made it into a comedian song in Japan.
Lilico
Well, Rage Against the Machine songs
are always pretty serious, but...
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
When it comes to Sorami Mihawa,
it's just too silly.
Maikou
Silly, funny, all just funny.
Lilico
Well, we need some laugh, you know.
Maikou
Yeah, yeah.
It's great that everyone noticed
about the Rage Against the Machine songs in Sorami Mihawa.
Lilico
Yeah.
Maikou
Any other Sorami Mi that you can suggest?
One thing I really remember
from my childhood experience in Wales
is that when we answer to people in Japanese,
we say あそう.
あそう.
Lilico
あそう means...
あそうね。
Maikou
あ means oh and そう means okay.
Lilico
So we say, oh, okay.
Maikou
So あそう or あそう.
Then our neighbor started to laugh.
Then we didn't know the words,
so we were asking,
what happened?
What was so funny?
You all were saying asshole,
so I was laughing.
Lilico
Yeah, it sounds like asshole
to English native speakers.
Maikou
Yeah, I think it's one of the common Sorami Mi's
we have in Japan.
Lilico
Yeah, it's classic, I guess.
Yeah, classic.
Maikou
Yeah.
Lilico
But you should better not say あそう
in front of English native speakers.
Maikou
No.
Lilico
It's so natural to say, though.
We say it all the time.
We just can't help.
Yeah.
Maikou
It's kind of a surprise kind of reaction.
A little surprise kind of reaction.
あそう.
It's really strong when we pronounce it.
It comes out in quite like joyful or strong
like intonation.
Yeah, yeah.
Lilico
But we actually aren't...
Most people wouldn't say that in downwards.
Maikou
Ah, I think so.
Lilico
Like あそう sounds like asshole.
Obviously.
Maikou
We say like あそう.
So it's upwards.
あそう.
Yeah.
So it's different.
Lilico
It's different.
Maikou
Yeah, it's different.
Yeah.
Lilico
あそう is asshole.
Maikou
Yeah.
So we were so embarrassed
when we did that for the first time.
We were very, very embarrassed.
24:01
Lilico
Well, we can't help.
Maikou
It was just a natural conversation.
Lilico
Yeah, I guess we were saying asshole too many times today.
Maikou
Yeah.
So that's one soramimi I am really in common with.
Lilico
There's another soramimi that you should better not say
in English native countries, I guess.
The word bitter in Japanese is 苦い.
苦い.
Yeah, but if you get rid of い,
Maikou
Yeah.
Lilico
it sounds like a really not good word to say.
Maikou
Really like racist kind of term.
Lilico
Yeah, it's not a good word to say in public.
It just doesn't mean that way.
Like it means bitter in Japanese,
but it sounds really wrong to say in public.
Maikou
And the worst thing about this soramimi is that
when we say adjective adverb often ends with い.
So sweet is 甘い.
Lilico
甘い.
Maikou
And hot is 辛い.
眠い.
眠い, sleepy, 眠い.
And in a frank Japanese conversation,
we tend to get rid of the last い.
So it becomes like 甘い.
Lilico
Yeah, abbreviation.
Maikou
眠い.
Yeah, abbreviation of the Japanese.
So it becomes like 甘い or 眠い, 辛い.
When it comes to 苦い, it's really not good.
Lilico
Yeah.
Maikou
Really like sad misunderstandings can happen.
It's really like offensive.
Lilico
Well, most people don't really know about this fact.
Maybe.
Maikou
No.
I think Japanese people do not know about this term actually very much.
Lilico
Yeah, most people don't really know.
Maikou
No.
Lilico
Well, most people don't really go overseas anyway,
so it's not a problem maybe.
But like, you know, if you go overseas, English-speaking country,
particularly in the US maybe,
and then if you go there with Japanese friends,
and then if you guys are having conversation while eating something
and something was really bitter, for example,
and then you just all of a sudden say 苦い.
Maikou
Yeah, I think everyone should be aware of it
before going abroad, before you say something like that.
Lilico
Well, there are many more things that you should be careful about
other than just saying the particular words, you know.
Maikou
No, not just 辛みみ.
It's not like the main thing, but...
Lilico
You should learn about the currency, the safety in the area that you're going.
Maikou
Yeah, first of all, yeah.
There are a lot of other things you should be aware of,
but as for one thing, it can happen.
And it does lead to trouble from what we can see.
Lilico
Yeah, yeah.
Maikou
Yeah, on the internet.
Lilico
It's really sensitive.
Maikou
Yeah.
Lilico
We actually don't really know how sensitive it is.
Maikou
No.
Lilico
We're not going to say it in public anyway.
27:01
Maikou
No.
Yeah, and we don't eat bitter things that much,
so I hope it does not come to a situation that we need to say anything like that.
Lilico
Okay, so is that it for today?
Maikou
Yeah, for today, yeah.
Lilico
Yeah, so that's it for today.
I hope you enjoyed 辛みみ.
Maikou
Yeah.
Lilico
If you have any topic requests, please reach us out via Twitter slash x.
Our account name is jpov under the podcast.
J-P-O-V under the P-O-D-C-A-S-T.
Thanks for listening till the end and have a nice day.
Maikou
Have a nice day.
Lilico
Bye.
Maikou
Bye.
See you in the next episode.
