For information about this supplement see The Anime Companion Supplement main page. Additions are in the Anime Companion Supplement News page.
Hyphenated Japanese terms are listed as single words.
The inclusion of an anime or manga title in these entries is not a recommendation of that title see my Recommended Anime and Manga page for a list of my recommendations
JACKET WORN OVER KIMONO see: haori (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.41)
- jan-ken (rock, paper, scissors) じゃんけん or じゃん拳 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.52)
- Sources:
A Look Into Japan p.115
Japanese Family and Culture p.67
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.647
JAPAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION see: Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.96)
JAPAN COMMUNIST PARTY see: Nihon Kyōsantō (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.95)
JAPANESE CHESS see: shōgi (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.123)
JAPAN GO ASSOCIATION see: Nihon Kiin
JAPANESE INDUSTRIAL STANDARDS see: Nihon Kōgyō Kikaku (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.94)
JAPANESE INN see: ryokan (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.107)
JAPANESE PEPPER see: sanshō (The Anime Companion 2 p.78)
JAPANESE STYLE BANQUETS see: enkai (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.27)
JAPANESE SWORD see: nihontō (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.95)
JAPAN RAILWAYS see: Jē Āru (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.53)
JAPAN US FRIENDSHIP AND COMMERCE TREATY see: Nichibei Shūkō Tsūshō Jōyaku (The Anime Companion 2 p.62)
JAPAN US TRADE AND COMMERCE TREATY see: Nichibei Shūkō Tsūshō Jōyaku (The Anime Companion 2 p.62)
JAPAN US TREATY OF AMITY AND COMMERCE see: Nichibei Shūkō Tsūshō Jōyaku (The Anime Companion 2 p.62)
JAPANESE PEAR see: nashi
- Jē Āru (JR) ジェーアール (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.53)
- Sources:
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.696
Web Site:
Japan Railways Group
JR-EAST - East Japan Railway Company
JELLY FISH see: kurage (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.76)
- jiageya (land shark) 地上げ屋
-
This term literally translated as 'one who raises land prices', usually it is translated as 'land shark' or 'land grabber'. This is a specialty of some yakuza (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.146) who do this work on hire for developers or the agents of developers. What they do is harass owners of property into selling or pressuring tenants into moving so the owner can sell the land. Japanese law is very protective of the rights of tenants making eviction very difficult. Usually this process, called jiage, involves consolidating small tracts making the larger total more valuable. This activity goes back as far as the 19th century and was particularly bad in the boom years of the 1980s when many large development projects needed adjacent small tracts to be consolidated and the activity was highly profitable. Methods range from simple intimidation to assault, destruction of property, kidnaping, arson and other extreme measures. In one case a dump truck was rammed into a family business. Some groups have even operated overseas such as in San Francisco in the 1990s.
Anime:
In City Hunter (ep.37) the owner of a small tavern (izakaya The Anime Companion 2 p.33), who also owns the land it is on, is pressured by jiageya to sell it, and in another episode, City Hunter 2 (ep.7), the owner of an island full of rare species is also being pressured to sell.
In R.O.D The TV (ep.17) a bookseller mentions that Jimbōchō never gave into land sharks, politicians or the war.
Sources:
Hill, Peter B.E. The Japanese Mafia: Yakuza, Law, and the State p.52, 121-122
Kaplan, David E. and Alec Dubro. Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld 178-180
- jidaigeki (period films) 時代劇
-
Period films. Specifically films set in pre-modern Japan. The Edo Period (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.25) is the most popular setting for these movies. Jidaigeki set in the Edo Period or the earlier Sengoku jidai (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.113) are often called 'samurai films' in the West even when they do not have samurai (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.110) in them. Some of Japan's most famous directors have worked on such films and they continue to be a popular form of entertainment.
Anime:
Ryoko says she was fantasizing that while she was looking at the garden she was a character in a jidaigeki, translated as samurai drama, in Real Bout High School (ep.4).
Sources:
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.679
- jidō-hanbaiki (vending machine) 自動販売機 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.53)
- Sources:
Living Japanese Style p.49
- Jieitai (Self Defense Forces; SDF) 自衛隊 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.53)
- Sources:
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.1341
Web Site:
Japan Defense Agency Home Page
- Jigen Ryū 示現流 (The Anime Companion 2 p.34)
- Sources:
Draeger, Donn F. Modern Bujutsu & Budo p.24-25, 79
Frederic, Louis. Dictionary of the Martial Arts p.62
Skoss, Diane, ed. Keiko Shokon: Classical Warrior Traditions of Japan volume 3 p. 165
- jiin (Buddhist temple) 寺院 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.53)
- Sources:
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.1547, 1387
JIMBEN DAI BOSATSU see: En no Gyōja (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.28)
- Jimbōchō 神保町
-
Located in the Kanda area of Chiyoda-ku (The Anime Companion 2 p.13) in Tokyo (The Anime Companion 2 p.104). The neighborhood is famous for the bookshops which began opening in the Meiji Period (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.81), the area was destroyed in the great 1923 earthquake (Kantō Daisinsai The Anime Companion 2 p.41). This neighborhood is the largest collection of bookshops, new and used, in the world with over 100 secondhand dealers alone. Many stores specialize in specific subject areas including shops focussed on the tea ceremony (cha-no-yu The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.17), ukiyo-e, architecture, kabuki and other topics.
Anime:
Jimbōchō is seen in the first episode of Read or Die and in many of the episodes of the R.O.D The TV series.
Manga:
In The Fist of the Blue Sky (v.1 p.30) Kasumi is reported to stand and read books in stores in Jimbocho rather than buy them.
Natsumi Sōseki (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.91) buys a books at Tokiodo in Jimbōchō in The Times of Botchan (v.2 p.97)
Sources:
Enbutsu Sumiko. Old Tōkyō: Walks in the City of the Shōgun p.79
Seidensticker, Edward. Low City, High City p.214
Tokyo City Atlas 20 C4, 58 B3
Waley, Paul. Tokyo: City of Stories p.72, 73
Waley, Paul. Tokyo Now & Then: An Explorer's Guide p.140-141
JINBO-CHO see: Jimbōchō
- jinja (Shintō shrine) 神社 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.54)
- Sources:
Outlook on Japan p.122
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.1422, 1387
- jinrikisha (rickshaw) 人力車 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.54)
- Sources:
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.1263
JIS see: Nihon Kōgyō Kikaku (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.94)
- jishin (earthquake) 地震 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.54)
- Sources:
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.302
JITSUIN see: hanko (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.40)
- jitte (truncheon) 十手 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.55)
- Sources:
Frederic, Louis. Dictionary of the Martial Arts p.189
- Jiyū Minshutō (Liberal Democratic Party) 自由民主党 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.55)
- Sources:
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.888
Web Site:
Liberal Democratic Party of Japan
- jizaikagi (pot hook) 自在鉤 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.55)
- Sources:
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.688
- Jizō 地蔵 OLD FORM 地藏 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.55)
- Sources:
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.688
A Look Into Japan p.33
Japanese Family and Culture p.166
Vardaman, James M. and Michiko Sakaki Vardaman Japan From A to Z p.17
JŌCHIN see: chōchin (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.19)
- jōmawari KANJI
-
An Edo Period (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.25) police rank for a type of officer who openly patrolled an area. These were usually recruited from the ranks of dōshin (lower-grade samurai rank) samurai.
Manga:
A jōmawari in Samurai Executioner (v.3 p.227) is Sakane Kasajirō, who uses a kaginawa (hook rope) and is a practitioner of taiho-jutsu (arresting arts).
Sources:
Cunningham, Don. Taiho-Jutsu p.45
JŌSHI NO SEKKU see: Hina Matsuri (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.45)
JŌSHI see: shinjū (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.119)
JOURNEY TO THE WEST see: Saiyūki (The Anime Companion 2 p.75)
- joya no kane 除夜の鐘 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.55)
- Sources:
Vardaman, James M. and Michiko Sakaki Vardaman Japan From A to Z p.77
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.696
JR see: Jē Āru (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.53)
JR Ikebukuro Eki see: Ikebukuro Eki (Ikebukuro station)
- jūbako (stacking boxes) 重箱 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.56)
- Sources:
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.696
JUBEI see: Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi (The Anime Companion 2 p.113)
- jūdō 柔道 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.56)
- Sources:
Joya, Mock. Mock Joya's Things Japanese p.509
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.697
Vardaman, James M. and Michiko Sakaki Vardaman Japan From A to Z p.60
Parker, L. Craig. The Japanese Police System Today p.69
JUGEN IANFU see: ianfu (comfort women)
- jūjutsu 柔術 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.56)
- Sources:
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.697
Frederic, Louis. Dictionary of the Martial Arts p.86
- juku (private tutoring schools) 塾
-
Private tutoring schools. During the Edo Period (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.25) the term referred to private schools teaching special skills, such as martial arts, or philosophy. It was during the Meiji Period (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.81) that the term began to mean private tutoring schools teaching specific subjects. Today the term often refers to schools teaching arts, sports or the academic subjects needed for entrance exams. Juku compete with yobikō (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.147) for students who are working towards passing entrance exams. There are also juku that specialize in helping students maintain their regular studies.
Anime:
In the You're Under Arrest (ep.18) and Kimagure Orange Road TV series (ep.37 ) juku are mentioned.
Sources:
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p,698
JUKUSEN see: shinsen (food offerings to kami)
- Jukyō (Confucianism) 儒教 OLD FORM 儒敎 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.56)
- Sources:
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.222
Martial Arts & Sports in Japan p.14-15
- Jūni Jinshō 十二神将 OLD FORM 十二神將 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.57)
- Sources:
Must-See in Nikko p.50
JUNPAI see: junrei (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.57)
- junrei (pilgrimage) 巡礼 OLD FORM 巡禮 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.57)
- Sources:
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.1205
Bocking, Brian. A Popular Dictionary of Shintō p.80
Discover Japan v.2 p.200
JURŌJIN see: Fukurokuju (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.30)
JUTTE see: jitte (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.55)
- juzu (rosary) 数珠 (The Anime Companion [vol.1] p.57)
- Sources:
Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.135
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Created: October 31, 1998
Updated: July 21, 2008
