Here are some words I hear on Japanese TV and among young people.

Ikeru – That’s cool or funny

Ukeru – That’s cool or funny

Ikemen – Cool guy

hanpajanei – that’s really cool or awesome

hana takai ne – your nose sure is pointy

Hada ga shiroi ne – you sure are white

The last two I get a lot from Japanese people who are meeting a westerner for the first time. It’s interesting to hear what they say sometimes. I would never go up to a Japanese person and say, “Your skin sure is yellow” or “Your eyes sure are slanty.” But when they say, “Your skin sure is white” or “Your nose is pointy” they don’t mean it as an insult. They are just marveling at the differences. Which is ok, but after it happens to you several times it gets annoying or you get used to it.

They also like to say, “Hello”. I’m not talking about meeting friends or coworkers. I could be minding my own business when a random Japanese guy will come up to me and try to practice his English on me. Sometimes I ignore it and sometimes I need a good laugh so I play along, but it can be really annoying when you are trying to catch a train and some road scholar wants to know what country I’m from. They usually ask the right question, “American?” but it annoys the crap out of my English and Australian friends because they always get asked, “American?” I’ve seen one of my friends fake being French in order to avoid one of these impromptu English lessons. I wish that I could say this is a fairly unique and singular experience, but I’ve heard similar stories from almost every English speaker I’ve met in Japan.