Comments on: Japan Enveloped by Huge Cloud!

By: Japan and Sex – www.sea2skyproductions.com

Japan and Sex – www.sea2skyproductions.com — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 23:22:45 +0000

[...] Stress of work/life in Japan (maybe the taihen cloud?) [...]

By: Japan Losing Sex Drive? « LetsJapan

Japan Losing Sex Drive? « LetsJapan — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 01:19:23 +0000

[...] Stress of work/life in Japan (maybe the taihen cloud?) [...]

By: Charlie

Charlie — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 19:05:42 +0000

This certainly is related to the “shouganai” cloud, which has surrounded Japan and been felt since prior to the occupation…

By: kayumochi

kayumochi — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 10:08:05 +0000

Years ago one August my Japanese wife and I went to a movie theatre in our provincial town for a double feature ( those used to be quite common back then but have seemingly disappeared). We took our seats and the movie began. Just a few minutes later I watched a female employee open a box on the wall and shut off the air conditioning completely. By the end of the first movie everyone had their handkerchiefs out wiping their faces muttering how hot it was. We were enveloped in the “taihen cloud.” I told my wife certainly someone would complain and the A/C would be turned back on. No one did as the cloud had settled among the seats and produced a fog so thick that no one could break free of it and find the lobby. Except me. I got up and sprayed the two slackers at the counter with my own version of the “taihen cloud.” We watched the 2nd movie in air conditioned comfort.

By: Tak

Tak — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:51:16 +0000

For a better insight, I think a Japanese person should write an article about the “I am sorry-cloud” in Western societies. As you know (or so I hope), in Japanese you cannot use sumimasen or gomen nasai to show empathy for some problem of which you are not responsible, because they are expressions of apology, and do not express grief. There are many expressions of grief, certainly (o-ki-no-doku and the lot), but they sound too profound or too sarcastic, so that’s where “taihen” appears. If you ever watch any foreign movie / show in Japan and try to read the Japanese subtitles, you will notice how when someone is complaining and other character tells them “I’m so sorry” that is rendered as “taihen desu ne…” in Japanese. That’s because “I’m sorry” –apart from (1) “I am sad for what I did to you, so please pardon me”– also means (2) “I’m grieving / I’m sad (for what happened to you, even though I am unrelated to it)”, while “sumimasen / gomen nasai” only bears that first meaning. I guess many Americans where told “taihen desu ne” by Japanese speakers on September 11th (see 5th comment). That’s their way of expressing condolence and concern –in my native country, Spain, they would have been told, “I am sorry (for what happened in your country)” hundreds of times too. If your mother dies, or you are getting divorced, or you lose your wallet, people around you will probably tell you, “I am sorry” –and I think this works for most countries in Europe and the Americas. In Japanese you cannot say “sumimasen” or “gomen nasai” because you would find yourself apologizing. One of the most appropriate expressions in these cases is “Taihen desu ne”. So what’s all the fuss about the word “taihen” being used?? I think that translating it as “hard, difficult”, instead of trying to seize its wider meaning, usage and function, is what is making a lot of gaijin be confused about an apparently taihenized Japanese society. The sole fact of saying “taihen means hard, difficult” proves that most people here are missing the point. Probably because they are being deceived by dictionaries, and by the fantasy that one word in one language is always perfectly and exactly equivalent to other word in other language.

So again, try to think about the “I am sorry-cloud” that I mentioned… Bunches of Western people saying it continuously… when most of them, or all of them most of the time, aren’t really sorry about anything. If I’m not sorry for something happening to _you_, at least by saying “taihen” (you are in trouble / you must be struggling, suffering / the situation is grave), I am saying the truth.

“I am sorry” for my bad English, it must be very “taihen” for you to cope with my grammar

By: Susan

Susan — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:13:44 +0000

I love it! It is so funny, and so true. Everything from a missed bus to death in the family could be “taihen”. Ahh, brings back memories…

By: 0rion

0rion — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 21:33:26 +0000

Top notch satire! Loved the pictures that went with the article, as well.

“Taihen” has definitely got to be one of the most overused words in the entire Japanese language.

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 05:57:02 +0000

I just found your site and spent about 2hr internetting the day away. Enjoyed this article, good humor. I so know what you mean about the taihen thing!

By: Ao

Ao — Thu, 10 May 2007 17:38:26 +0000

One thing that kind of blew my mind when I was back in Japan was how every single person in my office said the exact same thing on September 11th (I guess it was the 12th in Japan). I walk into the office.

“アメリカは大変ですね”

Yeah, pretty taihen. A few seconds later,

“大変ですね”

After the 10th taihen, it started to get creepy. Did everyone in Japan hold an emergency meeting and decide what they should say to Americans about the “Simultaneous multiple occurrence terrorism incident”?

Now I know better… it was the taihen cloud all along!

By: taxed-man

taxed-man — Thu, 10 May 2007 13:40:14 +0000

Everyday I see a specific example of the Taihen Cloud:

In Japan there is an “Elevator taihen-cloud.” Many people are in a rush to get where they are going, never more so in a crowded elevator. Japanese people try to show their consideration to others. In elevators they do this by conducting an amazing contortionist effort. As the Japanese person leaves the elevator, he recognizes that he has maliciously stopped the elevator midway, making everyone else in the elevator wait, while he gets out. Upon this realization he feels there is only one way he can ever be forgiven. Thats when the contortionist act begins. The left foot exits the elevator, the right hand reaches to the left. As his body-proper leaves the elevator his arm remains inside, mystically reaching–and finding–the “close door” button (standard button in Japan elevators). Thus, feeling redeemed and thinking his taihen-cloud has lightened somewhat, he removes his arm from the close button and rushes off to his office, heading to other awaiting taihen-clouds. Granted, when his hand finds the close button the door does begin to close until, of course, the door-sensor picks up movement and the door opens again. Yes, little does he know, the prat’s arm, as leaving the elevator has defeated his whole time-saving exercise and taihen-cloud gratification. Meanwhile, the gaijins waiting in the elevator roll their eyes…

This is when a group of people in an elevator. When the door opens at a floor mid-way up, the person on his way out, after stepping out of the elevator, has this taihen feeling that he must press the “close door” button in supposed consideration for his fellow elevator riders. What he forgets in his taihen-ness is that firstly there are a number of people already in the elevator trying to get their fingers on that damn close door button so they can get upstairs 0.75 seconds quicker, and also that there is an infrared sensor being broken by his arm, which means that he cant actually close the door anyway!