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The personal log of Peter Payne, owner of JLIST.com, the home of "wacky things from Japan"

Friday, November 20, 2009

Yakii-zuwari, or Squatting like a Yankee

Although I've been in Japan for 18 years, there are some things I've never really mastered, like eating nattou, the famous fermented soybeans that my kids love to have for breakfast. I can't read "air kanji" that a Japanese person will write with their finger, and I have trouble perceiving the secret messages Japanese see in numbers, like November 22nd being the official Happy Married Couples Day, since 11/22 can be read ii fuufu, meaning a married couple that's very close. I was also never able to master the Japanese art of yankii-zuwari, or "squatting like a yankee." In Japan there's a class of semi-delinquint young people who like to show their rebellious nature by dyeing their hair blonde (which usually comes out orange), and these people came to be called yankii, no doubt because they looked like Americans with their interestingly colored hair. There's a certain squatting pose these tough boys are famous for which is especially difficult for foreigners to pull off without rolling over like a daruma. The reason the Japanese can sit comfortably in this pose for hours is that Japanese-style toilets lack seats, and are basically flat recipticles you squat over to use, so these squatting muscles are well developed from a young age.

wut?

Can you "squat like a yankee"? It's hard to do without lifting your feet, which is cheating.

7 Comments:

Blogger blackholepinball said...

Actually, I can. At Otakon I dressed up as L but never got to full cosplay mode. While waiting in line someone asked me to sit like L so they could take my picture. Really easy for me, probably due to the fact that I have a bad back anyway, and I'm sort of bent over most of the time.

9:35 PM

 
Blogger Peter in Japan said...

Although, L isn't really doing a proper yankii-zuwari, since his legs are closed. Not sure why but sitting like this is supposed to stabalize your body so you can read or play with your cell phone or generally look bored, I can't figure it out ^_^

9:47 PM

 
Blogger Kevin said...

I may be wrong, but I always heard it was a genetic thing, and is just far more common in Asia. Although, I'm as white as can be, and have absolutely no problem doing it.

10:05 PM

 
Blogger tahni said...

Man, I wish I could do that...I had to use my hands for stabilization when using Japanese style toilets...:(

2:44 AM

 
Blogger Peter in Japan said...

Not sure what Miku is doing by the way. Would love to see.

8:51 PM

 
Blogger David said...

Y'know, I actually (don't laugh) practiced at doing it. Not to look yankii cool (at least that's what I tell people...) but I bought into the idea that it's good for your body somehow. I can do it, but not more than 10 minutes or my knees start to hurt. 10 minutes seems to be my time limit for many things. I can only sit in seiza for about 10 minutes too or my feet loose all feeling.

8:47 AM

 
Blogger David said...

lose all feeling... gak, I can't believe I made that typo

8:48 AM

 

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