Japanese for Gamers 101: An Xbox by any other name…

I love my little off-white box. It may RRoD on me someday, but until then I will be playing Rez in blissful high definition. As a gamer in Japan though, I am squarely in the minority in my feelings for Microsoft’s console. Indeed, the original Xbox was angrily compared with Commodore Perry‘s “Black Ships”, and seen as yet another attack by the Western imperialist powers on Japan’s domestic markets. Ok, I’m exaggerating, but it is undeniable that Japanese gamers didn’t take to it. Today we will look at some of the not so flattering (but funny) nicknames the system has been given by Japan’s gaming community.

I found the below at the True Game Industry Terminology Dictionary, an invaluable resource for gamers who are studying Japanese.

Word: 糞箱 (alt. うんこ箱)
Romanization/phonetic: Kusobako/koo soh bah koh
Etymology: Kuso (or “unko”) (shit), Hako (box)
Origin: Uncertain. Possible gaming bulletin board systems. Other names for the Xbox involving feces include 糞ﾎﾞｯｸｽ (kuso bokkusu), and ｴｯ糞ﾎﾞｯ糞 (ek-kuso bok-kuso), which would translate as something like “X-shit-box-shit”.

Word: 凶箱
Romanization/phonetic: Kyoubaku/kyoh bah koh
Etymology: Kyou (heinous), Hako (box)
Origin: Uncertain. Probably derived from the fact that the first character (凶) looks like an “X” enclosed in a box.

Word:ﾀﾞﾒ箱 (alt. ﾀﾞﾒﾎﾞｯｸｽ)
Romanization/phonetic: Dame Bako (or Bokkusu)/dah may bah koh
Etymology: Dame (bad, failed), Hako (box)
Origin: Uncertain. May derive from the fact that the second character of “dame” (メ) looks a little bit like an “x”.

Word:罰箱
Romanization/phonetic: Batsu Bako/bah tsoo bah koh
Etymology: Batsu (punishment), Hako (box)
Origin: Uncertain. This is a pun on the Japanese word for cross (x), which is also pronounced “batsu”.

Word: ｶﾞﾘｶﾞﾘ君
Romanization/phonetic: Gari Gari Kun/ gah ree gah ree koon
Etymology: Name of a popular brand of ice cream bar. “Gari Gari” is also an onomatopoeia for a scratching or abrading sound.
Origin: Comes from the first generation of the Xbox 360. Due to a flaw in the hardware, the Xbox would abrade the edges of the CD or DVD, making an audible scratching noise (“gari gari”) in the process.

Addendum: I should have noted a couple of things, but I was in a hurry (i.e. too lazy to be asked) when I wrote this. First, these names were originally applied to the first Xbox. However, from what I’ve seen on gaming forums and blogs, all of them (with the exception of “Gari Gari Kun”) were carried over to the 360.

Secondly, the Xbox 360 has been doing a lot better here lately! It actually had the top selling game last week (Star Ocean 4 -ok, granted it was a pretty dead week for new releases). It was also the third best-selling console, beating out the Wii in weekly hardware sales. Considering that the Wii is probably pretty close to full saturation here, and the PS3 is a lot more expensive, it is just possible that the old Kusobako will pull an amazing recovery in the Land of the Rising Wii.