Introduction
The group members for this project are Matthew Terry, Kathryn Tucker, Allegra Wesson, Jared Krzysko, and Liam Sherry.
Our project was built around exploring how the various strains of language, employed within Japanese, are utilized in major clothing outlets. Since most business is globalized and American businesses have cut into the market in Japan, we were curious to see how foreign conglomerates and local businesses would employ these various words. Thus, we decided to use GAP’s (American) Japanese website and SOU・SOU’s (Japanese) website. Based on our earlier discussions with Matthias Kramer, we hypothesized that both websites would rely heavily on loan words to offer customers a “cool and fashionable” impression when purchasing clothes. However, since GAP needs to convert English words that might not exist in Japanese we expected their website to consist mostly of loan words.
SOU・SOU: https://www.sousou.co.jp/?mode=cate&cbid=482404&csid=0&no=0
(^Above images were taken from SOU・SOU)
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(^An incident of Japanized-English from the GAP Japan website)
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Methodology
After taking paragraphs that we thought useful to our work, Sino-Japanese, Native-Japanese and loan words were color-coded and sorted to compare types and level of usage between both websites. This was a group effort that, once finished, was compiled into charts and catalogued so that we could provide a clear provision of results.
With this completed we started building our blog by distributing roles so that we could spread the workload in a fair manner.
The pie charts below outline our results after analyzing both websites:
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The images that we got the GAP data from (+ a product description):
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Some of the various images that we got the SOU・SOU data from:
^This image in particular was interesting to us, because it shows Japanese written in the traditional right-to-left style, rather than being written left-to-right like how it is on the majority of the website.
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Analysis – GAP
In our analysis, the Japanese GAP website had an abundance of western loan words, which accounted for nearly 35 percent of the words we analyzed. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, as GAP is an American-founded company, trying to appeal to a Japanese audience. This would account for the large percentage of loan words, as GAP is actively using their American roots to build their brand in order to appeal to a younger, more western, target audience. Loan words are often interpreted as “new” and even “cool” by younger demographics who embrace western styles and ideas, while they are met with distaste from an older, more traditional, and nationalistic audience.
One thing that originally surprised us about the use of these loan words is that they were being used for headers as simple as Men’s (メンズ) and Women’s (ウィメンズ). This seemed almost uncharacteristic of any Japanese website as you would assume they would use Native Japanese words for the headers but they stylistically chose not to. This is a strong example of the marketing choices made by GAP and the younger demographics they are trying hard to appeal to.
And, while the western sentiment on the GAP website is almost overwhelming, it’s also important to recognize the choices the gap team made in terms of including Native- and Sino-Japanese vocabulary as well. Both forms were used around the same amount of times with Native-Japanese having a small edge over its Sino counterpart. What’s more important than usage frequency is the manner in which they were used, in contrast to the way GAP employed “メンズ and “ウィメンズ, for example. Loan words were most frequently used for nouns to give products a more distinct American style but in contrast Native- and Sino-Japanese words were more frequently verbs, adverbs, or adjectives rather than nouns. These vocabulary types were more frequent in descriptions of products and helping the customer understand the values and benefits of GAP products in a deeper sense. Loan words were used as a flashy appeal to draw in younger demographics while the use of the two more traditional vocabulary forms ensures that these demographics still understand the values and benefits of GAP and their products. Words like “ 滑らかな” (smooth) and “軽量” (lightweight) help with distinct imagery that isn’t as easily reproduced in English or loan words. Overall, GAP’s usage of loan words in conjunction with Sino- and Native-Japanese verbs and adjectives creates a great balance between stylization and comprehension for their target demographic.
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Analysis – SOU・SOU
The SOU・SOU website is a stark contrast from the GAP website, as it only features loan words 13 percent of the time, compared to GAP’s 35 percent. SOU・SOU is very different from GAP branding wise as it sells traditional Japanese clothing like kimonos and split-toe tabi shoes. Because of this more traditional branding SOU・SOU sports 46% Native-Japanese words and 35% Sino-Japanese words. This is immediately apparent by the organization of the page as well as the vocabulary throughout the page. Nouns like “洋服” (clothes) are used frequently which denote a more traditional connotation because of Sino Japanese vocabulary choice. This choice is intentional and strays away from the newly popular loan word style to give a more authentic Japanese feeling to the site. This choice matches the branding and values of SOU・SOU and points to SOU・SOU’s demographic being older Japanese people and families shopping for a more orthodox look.
And when you analyze the loan words used throughout it is apparent that the curators of SOU・SOU’s page only use them when absolutely necessary. Words like “サイクリング and “フランス” can only be conveyed through a loan word. These nouns and proper nouns that were communicated through loan words don’t represent any stylistic trend by SOU・SOU but rather an adherence to modern Japanese. SOU・SOU’s page is simple yet effective at communicating exactly what they sell and giving precise imagery to accompany their traditional Japanese style.
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Summary & Conclusion
For our project, we wanted to compare the amount of Native, Sino-Japanese and foreign loan words found on two clothing websites: GAP Japan and SOU・SOU, a seller of traditional Japanese clothing. Off the bat, we initially assumed that the GAP website would contain more loan words because of its roots in originally being an American company. Likewise, we initially assumed that SOU・SOU would contain little to no loan words on its site because it is a Japanese company and its target audience are Japanese people. Based on the data we procured from both websites and our analyses, we were able to successfully conclude that the Japanese GAP website contains far more foreign loan words than the traditional Japanese clothing website SOU・SOU. In addition, SOU・SOU far outnumbered the GAP website in terms of the amount of Native-Japanese and Sino-Japanese words that it contained. However, from our analyzed sections, SOU・SOU actually used more English than GAP (not to be confused with western loan words, but actual English), but this could be attributed to the fact that SOU・SOU has built-in language selection/automatic translation options on their site, so their use of English is to be informal and reach a broader audience, rather than to be used for stylistic purposes like GAP. Both sites do make it obvious who their intended audiences are though, and the stark difference in the use of foreign loan words is what made that obvious to us.
Thank you for reading!
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単語リスト：
SOU・SOU
Native: 日本, 入って, くるま, 着物, 着る, ある, 又, 着付け,遠, 楽しい, 履物, 言える, 浴びて, モノ, 江戸, 年, 続くる, 布, 撚り, 弱い糸, する, 洗っていくうち, 糸, わた, 戻ろう, 成っていく, 持って, 作れない, 湯, 昔, 今, 認める, 日本人, 少し遠, 難しい、こと, 変わる, 合わせた, 楽しみ, 最も, 古く, 楽しく, 作る, おすすめ, お気に入り, 選び, 繰り返し, できる, 優れた, 高島縮
Sino: 洋服, 意味, 明治以降, 登場, 日常, 着衣, 自由, 新, 和装, 提案, 最高傑作, 地下足袋, 今世界中, 賞賛, 世界, 国産地下足袋, 足袋, ご覧, 時代, 以上, 伝統, 伊勢木綿, 使用, 生地, 特徴, 現在, 臼井織布一軒, 貴重, 千, 利休, 大成, 茶, 代表, 伝統文化, 戦国武将, 熱狂, 文化, 美意識, 真骨頂, 現代人, 日常, 事実, 在釜, 一切, 茶席, 毎月, 和菓子, 一緒, 一服, 抹茶, 世界最古, 新作, 第, 弾, 仕様紹介,一枚, 吸湿性, 速乾性
Loan: ジャンル, クリエーター, ブランド, カラフル, ポップ, テキスタイル, オリジナル, ロードレース, ツール・ド・フランス, サポート, ルコックスポルティフ, コラボレーション, サイクリング, カジュアル, サイクリングウェア, レビュー, モスリン, コーディネート, テキスタイル, マスク
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GAP
Native: する、これ、誰、受け入れる、できる、こと、縁取り, これら, すべて、目指す, 寒い, 日, 着心, 良さ, 保つ, 織り, 施され, 見た目, 着心, 暖かさ, 代わる, 滑らかな, 長袖, 付き, 襟, やわらか, 胸, お手入れ, 洗う, いつ, 場合, 先, かかわらず, 他, 首元, 楽しめる, 遊び, 柄, あり
Sino: 軽量, 1本, 以上, 上手, 再利用, 中、表地, 裏地, 素材, 今後, 地, 高性能, 断熱, 素材, 使用, 耐水, 加工, 素材, 全要素, 実現, 綿, 混紡, 中央, 素材, 洗濯機, 輸入品, 円, 以上, 注文, 送料無料, 合計金額, 未満, 国内, 発送, 送料, 発生, 商品, 返品, 交換, ご覧, 上部, 総柄, 毎日, 人気, 特別, 気分, 開閉, 半袖
Loan: アップ, サイクル, パファー, ジャケット, プラスチック, ボトル、アプローチ, ポリエステル, ボタン, ファスナー, リサイクル, サスティナブル, ナイロン, ダウン, プリマ, ロフト, バンド, フード, フロント, スラント, ポケット, レビュー, ベストセラー, メンバーシップ, ウィメン,メンズ, ガールズ, ボーイズ, ベビーガールズ, ベビーボーイズ, セール, ミックス, マッチ, サステナビリティ, プライバシーポリシー, ニット, クルーネック, ウエスト, ドローコード, パッチポケット, コットン, オンライン, カスタマー, サービス, ストレッチ, フェイクファー, バッファロー, プラッド, ドレスアップ, ワンピース, ハロウィーン, コスチューム, キャラクター, アッパー, バック, キーホール, バンド, カフス, スカート, チュール, バリエーション