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Joyfulness
Noriko Kamitani

Introduction:

In the world, a lot of people live and each nation of people has different words and culture, and different ways of expressing their feelings, so they may have difficulty communicating or understanding each other. Japanese people also express their feelings in the ways peculiar to us. For example, when Japanese people meet with victory, they express their joyfulness in different ways. Now, in order to help you understand Japanese people, I will tell you about some of these reactions, giving examples of how Japanese express joyfulness.
5 examples:

First I will tell you how Japanese express their joyfulness when they win a lawsuit. The moment when the accuser’s claim is accepted, one of his supporters declares victory by holding up a big paper saying VICTORY. Then they share their joyfulness with the winning person in the front of the court by crying, hugging and clapping.

Second I will tell you about when Japanese win an election. Before the winning candidate is announced, the candidate and supporters wait in the election office. As soon as they are informed of the candidate’s win, they do “banzai” three times. Banzai is the act of raising the arms and shouting “BANZAI!” as in the picture below. The candidate is presented with some bouquets and expresses his or her feeling of gratitude toward the supporters.

Next I will tell you about some ways of expressing Japanese joyfulness in sports.

First I will talk about ‘sumo,’ a traditional Japanese sport. In Japan, Sumo Tournaments take place six times per year. Each sumo tournament is held for two weeks. Each sumo wrestler fights each other wrestler during the two weeks and only one wrestler becomes the winner. On the last day of the tournament, the winner parades through the streets riding in a car carrying some bouquets and flags. A lot of his fans gather in the streets to see and give him their congratulations. After the parade, he drinks sake from a big cup.



Second I will tell about ‘baseball’. In Japan, professional baseball and high school baseball are very popular. The high school baseball tournament is held two times a year, in spring vacation and summer vacation, at Koshien stadium in Osaka. First, each team fights in tournaments in each prefecture and the winning team can play at Koshien. Boys who play baseball long to play baseball there once in their lives. High school baseball players can only compete to go to Koshien for three years, so they practice hard. It is very difficult for baseball players to get to play at Koshien so their joyfulness at playing there is very big. If the team gains the final victory at the high school baseball tournament, the members of the team gather around the pitcher’s mound and toss their manager into the air and express their joyfulness. Many people are impressed with this sight.
Next I would like to tell you about baseball again. This time, however, I will only talk about professional baseball. In professional baseball also, the players express their joyfulness by tossing their manager into the air if their team can top the league. But besides this, professional players do another thing. Have you ever seen a sports champion squirt people with champagne at an awards ceremony? When a professional baseball team wins the baseball season, they do this too, but the professional players use something different. They use beer! They squirt each other with beer and get soaked with it. The mass media comes to relay that sight, so many reporters also get soaked with beer.


Conclusion:

As I said before, Japanese have particular ways of expressing their feelings. If you see these sights for the first time, you may not understand what they want to do. But like many people, Japanese people express their joyfulness by crying, hugging or clapping too. Will you share your joyfulness with Japanese people in the same style as them?



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