R: Today I'm here with Grace!!

From the channel Texan in Tokyo.

You should check her out if you don't already know who she is.

R: We are friends and have done videos before. G: So many videos!

R: Today I have a list of 5 English words

that you probably don't know actually were originally Japanese.

R: The first word I know you know- G: Okay.

R: -because you've been talking about it a lot, and Ryosuke has talked about it a lot.

G: Okay. R: So. G: All right.

R: This is the word...

rickshaw!

G: Rickshaw...

R: Like have you ever thought about where the word rickshaw came from?

G: Omg.

G: I've been saying like "jinrikisha" and then "rickshaw" the whole time, and I didn't realize it.

R: How did you not notice?!

G: My husband is recently looking to get a part time job being a jinrikisha,

or a rickshaw driver, because that was his dream when he was a kid.

And so we've been talking about rickshaws this whole time, and like...

G: OMG R: You learned something new today!!

G: What is happening in my life R: Yay!!

R: Okay, so the Japanese word is "jinrikisha,"

R: which comes from the kanji for "person" G: [incredulous moaning]

R: for "jin." G: What is wrong with me.

R: And then the kanji for "power" or "strength" for "riki."

And then "sha" is the kanji for "automobile" or "vehicle."

It's literally like a "man-powered vehicle."

That's the word in Japanese.

And we just got rid of "jin" and then switched "rikisha" to "rickshaw."

Because... America G: [exaggerated southern accent] Rickshaw.

G: Wow. R: Okay! Number 2!

R: Did you know the word...

"tycoon" comes from Japan?

G: Really??

R: Like "Roller Coaster Tycoon." G: Yeah.

R: Like the business magnate. G: Yeah.

R: Yeah. G: Really??

R: Tycoon is a Japanese word. G: Really?

R: It's the kanji for "big," like "dai."

And then the kanji for "kimi" which can just mean like a "lord."

R: So it actually means like "Great Lord." G: Wow.

G: No, I didn't know that at all!

R: I love this! You're so surprised!

G: Wow... R: Yeah, so Roller Coaster Tycoon...

It's actually Roller Coaster GREAT LORD.

Not really.

The next one is a very, very common Japanese word.

And it's actually a really common English word, too.

This won't be surprising as soon as you hear it.

So it's the word...

futon.

Futon.

G: Oh, yeah! Okay. No, that one definitely makes sense!

R: That one definitely makes sense. G: That one doesn't surprise me.

R: They're actually slightly different in Japanese and in English.

And in Japanese, well, it's futon [pronounced hoo-tohn].

A futon in Japanese is like a bedding, or

if you don't sleep on the floor with the whole thick bedding/mattresses,

in common usage on a normal bed, it's actually like a really thick blanket

like a duvet.

For our Japanese viewers who don't know, a futon in English is

a type of really thin, foldable, unfoldable couch kinda thing.

G: Yeah.

R: You can unfold it and make it into a bed.

R: It's like... G: Like a couch that comes out.

R: Yeah. When I've gone home to America

and I told my family, "Oh yeah, we just use a futon to sleep under at night."

"It's really warm!"

My family was like. "...You sleep UNDER a futon???"

G: Ahhh.... R: Like "What the heck??"

R: Number 4!

This is actually the one I was most surprised by.

You probably haven't heard of it UNLESS you're allergic to poison ivy.

Are you allergic to poison ivy?

G: I am, actually!

R: Okay, well if you're allergic to poison ivy and you've had it in like the past 15 years,

and you've had internet, you've probably looked up on the internet

"What the heck am I supposed to do with this poison ivy?!"

and just kind of Wikipedia'd poison ivy stuff.

G: Yeah!

R: Which means you've probably read this word a lot,

which is the word...

urushiol.

So I've seen this word so many times over the past 15 years searching on the internet,

and then I found out it was actually a Japanese word.

And I was like, really?!

G: Huh. R: It came from Japan??

R: Like, do they even have poison ivy in Japan?

G: Do they?

[Annotation: No, they don't.]

R: I don't know, actually.

[Annotation: They have a plant in the same genus, Toxicodendron.]

R: Maybe.

[Annotation: All Toxicodendron plants produce urushiol.]

R: The word "urushi" actually means "lacquer" in Japanese.

[Annotation: Urushiol causes allergic reactions, but it can also be used to make lacquer.]

[Annotation: ...Which is why the word "urushi" in Japanese means lacquer.]

R: Or it can be the sap of a certain kind of tree here.

[Annotation: The Toxicodendron plant in Japan is the Japanese lacquer tree.]

And then "-ol" is apparently a scientific ending that we put on it in English

to make the word urushiol,

which is the oil that comes from the poison ivy plant, poison sumac, poison oak...

G: OHHH it's the oil! R: ...that gives you the rash, yeah.

R: It's the word for the oil that gives you a big rash and breaks you out.

G: That makes sense! I can believe that.

R: I'm extremely allergic to poison ivy, so...

It's a horrible thing to have. When you get it you're sooo itchy.

G: So itchy!

G: I remember when I was a kid, one of my eyes was swollen completely shut from it.

I was like "Somebody love me..."

R: And number 5!

I'm not sure how many people have heard of this word, or if they're teaching it in schools these days...

because back when I was in school, we were taught the map of the tongue.

[Annotation: MAP OF LIES]

That diagram of the tongue.

And we were taught that there were like four different flavors you could taste.

R: Sour, sweet, bitter, and... G: Yeah! I definitely remember learning that.

R: Sour, sweet, bitter...

G: And the 4th one.

That we all know, but we don't have to say it.

R: And the 4th one. G: Because we all know it.

R: It's SO obvious. G: Yeah, so obvious.

R: Like we don't even need to say it. G: Yeah.

R: We'd just be like insulting your intelligence.

And apparently nowadays there's considered to be a 5th one, which is...

umami.

G: Umami. R: Umami.

R: And since I didn't grow up with people telling me, "THIS taste is umami!"

I know NO idea what it's supposed to taste like.

G: Huh!

R: It technically means like, "good taste."

G: Like umai? R: Like pleasant flavor.

[Annotation: "Umai" is Japanese for "delicious."]

G: That was interesting! R: Yay!

G: I didn't know a lot of those, actually.

R: Well, thank you very much! G: Yeah!

R: For learning these new words with me!

G: Thank you for sharing your knowledge! R: YAY knowledge!

R: All right, thanks for watching guys!

R: I'll see you later! G: Thanks for watching!

Both: Byee!

R: Okay! Great!

G: Rickshaw. Rickshaw comes from Japanese...