Group 6 Members: Ryan A, Courtney C, Kevin H, Sergio G, Quinton S

The goal of this project was to compare and contrast each Japanese vocabulary type can be utilized through the comparison of two Japanese websites. Our team decided to analyze two Japanese clothing company websites. The sites we chose were こどもの森 (a Japanese kids clothing company) and GAP: Japan. By analyzing these two completely different websites, we were able to distinguish key differences between their choices in vocabulary, tone, and overall imagery. From there, we developed a deeper understanding of how these choices portrayed a certain image and personality that tailored to each website’s target audience.

こどもの森 (https://marutaka-iryo.co.jp/): 

こどもの森 is a store that provides a wide variety of kids clothing from a collection of 10 different brands (both Japanese and non-Japanese). The clothing sizes range from newborns, babies, toddlers, to younger school kids. We noticed a significant usage in Sino-Japanese words and foreign loanwords, some English words, and a few Native Japanese words throughout こどもの森’s website.

This screenshot shows an extensive list of the different clothing items that are available in こどもの森. All except one of the clothing items, 帽子 (hat), are advertised in カタカナ. Many of these words like スカート, カーディガン, and デニムスカート are directly transfered foreign loanwords. They possess the same meaning as those words in English. However, some words like トレーナー (sweatshirts) and ワンピース (dress-like outfits) are foreign loanwords that carry different meanings than those same words in English.

This screenshot was taken at the bottom of the site, showing the different ways to pay, and receive your items. This section is filled with mostly Sino-Japanese words, since the main reader for this website is a Japanese person (a parent, uncle, aunt, or grandparent). Words like, 送料無料 (free shipping) and 配送業 者 (delivery) are used to speak primarily towards their more “sophisticated” audience. There are also very few Native Japanese words being used. The only ones used are primarily action verbs. Some examples include, お届け致します (to deliver) and お問い合わせ (contact us).

This section was displayed towards the bottom of こどもの森’s home page. We thought it was interesting to see how the word “Ranking” and ランキング was chosen as opposed to “Most Popular” or “Our Favorites”. This choice in vocabulary is a great example of Japanized English, and how it’s used to provide Japanese audiences with a more clear understanding of the displayed information. Although the term “Ranking” seems somewhat awkward from a more Western standpoint, Japanese people (parents, aunts, and uncles in this case) are able to better comprehend what the website is trying to advertise in this section. Which is displaying the most current popular items in numerical order.

This screenshot displays more detailed info of one of their clothing products. We’re able to see this section compiles a mixture of foreign loanwords, Sino-Japanese words, and a few native Japanese words. Collectively, they provide more detail and context to their Japanese audience by thoroughly explaining the product’s material, texture, and other characteristics. They also provide their audience with some suggestions on how this product can match with other complementary clothing items. Sino-Japanese words to note are 質感 (texture), 素材 (material), and 裏地 (lining) are used to define key components of the product. While マット (matte) and ポリピーチ (polyphonic) are foreign loanwords used to provide adjective words to further illustrate and advertise the primary components of this product.

GAP : Japan (https://www.gap.co.jp/):

To compare to こどもの森, we have decided GAP Japan, which is also a clothing store, but with foreign origins.  We were curious to compare how two stores which sell similar products can vary in terms of the different types of word styles found on the homepage.  Below is a chart of the some examples of word types found on the webpage:

Based on the graphs and examples, you can see that there are a plethora of foreign loan words found on GAP Japan’s website.  In fact, they make up almost half of the words found on the page. If you include English words, almost two-thirds of the words on the webpage are made up of foreign-originating terms.  It is also obvious that the developers of the website did this on purpose. While some of the words are necessary to be written as foreign loanwords, the terms for men, boys, girls, etc. are all written as such despite being more natural if it was written in native Japanese.  The reasoning behind this is to give the website, and therefore the company, a more foreign feel to them, as GAP is known for being a foreign business. The image below was taken from the GAP Japan website, and shows its choice in using foreign loanwords as opposed to native Japanese.

Along with the abundance of foreign loanwords, one should also notice the way the creators of this website use English words.  Upon closer inspection, the majority of English words are in a much larger font as compared to the Japanese characters. This is clearly meant for advertisement, as English is known in Japan as “trendy” or “かっこういい”.  Therefore, having large English words on a website for a foreign business is sure to catch the eye of consumers. Below are some examples of large English text found within advertising on the website:

Group 3 : Samuel Roberts, Amber Walker, Jason Tseng, Haochen Huang, Daniel Grisby

Site 1: DMM Games

Sino Japanese:
漢字：２０
温泉、満喫、基本、無料、有料、放題、湯気、友達、利用、可能、確認、所持、交換、艦隊、開催中、突破、拘束

Native Japanese:　ひらがな：１１
女のこたち、録りおろし、すぐ、これくしょん、来た、好きな、
必ずもらえる、おゆばに、この、から、まで
Katakana: 28
ゲーム、トップ、リーグ、コミュニティ、メッセージ、ヘルプ、ボイス、
メンテナンス、メダル、ポイント、チャージ、ダウンロード、チッピ、コミュ、
ピックアップ、ハイパー、チーム、バトル、バスタオル、チュートリアル、
トリック　オア　プリン、ハロウィン、パーティー、イベント、プリンセス、コネクト
Romaji: 9
DMM Games, New, PUBG, Flower Knight Girl, Cygames Inc.

A large portion of the terms present are given in katakana, which is understandable for a games website. Katakana text is used very often in games as labels for items (メダル, チッピ) as well as other game based terms (イベント, ヘルプ). A number of katakana words could have easily been shown via hiragana and/or kanji, but were instead purposefully chosen to be written in katakana, such as ヘルプ or ボイスThis allows these often relevant terms to stand out, sort of like using Italics, and also gives off the casual vibes that gaming is often known for. While there are nearly twice as many Sino-Japanese words than there are Native Japanese words, these words are mostly located in titles and headlines, where conservation of space was likely taken into account on the designers end.

Site 2: Uniqlo

Sino Japanese: 12
店舗, 検索, 会員, 登録, 限定値, 新作, 今週, 期間, 限定, 価格, 商品, 消費税
Native Japanese: 15
お問い合わせ、お気に入り、下げ中、見る、まで、軽い、いろいろ、すっきり、とした、楽しめる、使える、これ、暖かい、薄い、値下げ
Katakana: 10 ラインナップ、カート、デザイン、レイヤード、ウルトラ、ライト、ダウン、ベスト、アウター、インナー
Romaji: 10
Women, Men, Kids, Baby, Company, Ultra Light down, XS – 3/4XL

Nearly half of the words on this particular screenshot are given either in Katakana or are English words in Romaji. This is likely both because, as a clothing website, Uniqlo wants to have a particularly international style as well as because they may receive traffic from users in other countries being that they are a major clothing brand. As for the Sino/Native balance, they are mostly balanced in usage, which seems to show that the words are used for technical, literary purposes rather than to show a particular style.

Our group consists of Simon, Pablo, Li, and Qixuan. We decided to compare a Japanese news website (https://www.nikkei.com/economy/) and a website for a Neko Café (http://xn--y8jh7dsa1f.jp/?page_id=2335) in Japan. The two websites show completely different things, so we thought it would be interesting to compare the differences.

Nikkei Website

Native Japanese : 26%

Sino Japanese : 69%

Loan Words: 5%

Below are a few examples of the types of vocabulary used in the article:

The article has a lot of Sino-Japanese words than Native Japanese and Loan words. Because it is a news website, the article has a very serious tone and more formal and complex vocabulary is used. The website is intended to be read by those who have a good grasp on the language and those who received higher education and can understand high-level grammar. For instance, it contains complex Sino-Japanese words like 経済産業省(けいざいさんぎょうしょう), 太陽光発電(たいようこうはつでん), 固定価格買(こていかかくばい). The sheer number of Sino-Japanese words used in this article further show that seriousness and the professional tone set by the news website instead of using a western loan word to simplify the content. 太陽光発電 could easily have been simplified to ソーラーパワー. 経済産業省 is also another complicated kanji compound that could have been simplified to METI, which is an acronym for Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. For the sake of seriousness and direction towards a sophisticated Japanese audience, Sino-Japanese words were used instead. The website doesn’t use many colors and is very straight to the point. However, the content is more complex. Only 5% of the words are loan words which shows that this page is intended for a Japanese adult audience.

Neko Café

Below are a few examples of the types of vocabulary used in the article:

The Neko Café website is much different in comparison with the Nikkei website. The Neko café website has soft colors and a very laid-back feel. It has a more playful image which is intended for a younger audience. There are also character illustrations displayed on the website which is a big difference from the Nikkei website that only has thumbnails relating to their new stories. The Neko café page is also 65% Native Japanese words, which is a big difference compared to the 26% on Nikkei’s page. The Neko café page is more eye catching but the content is simpler. カフェis a foreign loan word and it seems more exotic or fun than 喫茶店 which is the Japanese word for café. There is also the use of ランキング as opposed to  位 which is the Japanese word for ranking. The Sino-Japanese word 家族 is better than a native Japanese word as it shows the writer’s intended meaning. The word 家族 means family, which includes both children and elders. There is no native Japanese word that has the same meaning. In the case of the native Japanese word せっかく means ‘much trouble’, and the word ぜひ means ‘certainly’ or ‘without fail,’ they portray a personal feeling. If a Sino-Japanese or a loan word were used instead of the native Japanese words, the readers would not have understood the writer’s specific feeling or emotion that they want to portray in the article. Native Japanese words are the best way to show a person’s feeling or emotion, which is one of the reason why they are the highest amount of vocabulary used in the website. Also included on the website, is an interaction between two characters who use a sentence ending particle にゃー which is copying the sound that a cat makes in Japanese. It is supposed to be cute and funny. Such a thing wouldn’t appear on a news website.