History Main / GratuitousJapanese

* In ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'', all of the Raigeki cards (Raigeki, Raigeki Break, Crystal Raigeki and others) are called Raigeki in every language... except in Japanese, where it's called サンダー (Thunder, written in katakana), making it a rare case of both [[GratuitousJapanese Gratuitous Japanese]] AND [[GratuitousEnglish Gratuitous English]].

* Music/{{Queen}}'s song "Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)" uses this -- it's presumably 手をとりあって, but it's hard to tell because it uses an archaic romanization system. (Under the current most widely used one it would be rendered ''Te o toriatte''). This isn't enough to make it one of TheOldestOnesInTheBook, but it is enough to make it OlderThanTheyThink. This being the 70s, the song was written specifically as a thank you to their vast legions of Japanese fans.
** A similar example would be their song "Mustapha", which is basically Gratuitous Arabic. At least "Let Us Cling Together" used real words.
* {{Music/Styx}}. ''Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto, Mata au hi made, domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, himitsu wo shiritai...'' Despite the hideous accent (though what could be expected from a robot) it's more or less correct Japanese though.[[note]]どうもありがとうミスターロボット また会う日まで どうもありがとうミスターロボット 秘密を知りたい[[/note]]

* {{Music/Area 11}} sprinkles Japanese throughout several songs, and the first part of "Bōsōzoku Symphonic", "Ryōkan", being a Japanese poem set to music, is entirely in Japanese.

* Music/KeroKeroBonito is a London-based pop trio who takes tons of inspiration from Japanese city pop and video game music, and most of their songs contain bilingual lyrics in English and Japanese, though as singer and lyricist Sarah Midori Perry is a half-Japanese native herself, [[SurprisinglyGoodForeignLanguage it's all authentic]]. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools One of the band's greatest draws]] is playing around the vagueness of language, sometimes [[HiddenDepths hiding additional meaning]] [[HidingBehindTheLanguageBarrier behind the Japanese lyrics]], or just as a joke ([[WordSaladTitle their band name is actually meaningless,]] [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign and not just in Japanese]]).

* ''{{VideoGame/PAYDAY 2}}'': Jiro is Japanese, and as such, while in a heist he speaks exclusively in Japanese. This is in contrast with Joy, who despite also being Japanese speaks fluent English. (Speak to Jiro while in the safe house, however, and he'll speak to you in SurprisinglyGoodEnglish.)

* Music/BenFolds Five's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVk_e31dnlE Song For The Dumped]]" (the "[[RefrainFromAssuming Give my Money Back]]" song) starts in English, suddenly turns to Japanese and then comes back to English in the middle of the chorus.

** This is somewhat justified though, because the name of the tournament in-canon is the Budokai Tenkaichi.

* In ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter Tri'' and ''Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate'', a ship called the Argosy comes to Moga Village every so often. Their captain and his first mate, Neko (Means Cat) often use Japanese words in the middle of sentences, followed by the English meaning of that word. It's unknown whether it's a ShoutOut or not, but one of the Captain's lines is "We must formulate keikaku. [[Manga/DeathNote Keikaku]] means [[MemeticMutation plan!]]"

* Trocadero employs it in two songs written for Creator/RoosterTeeth: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8Jy-E0_st8 "Colors"]], the ending theme for the ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' season 5 finale, has the first chorus in Japanese - because [[MultipleEndings one of the fake-out endings upon release]] [[https://youtu.be/xj9JMdSudsg?t=172 mimicked the credits of a game, complete with Japanese names]]; though the one GratuitousSpanish instance in the regular chorus remained untranslated, as does the second "When we're together" - and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyVzkPmZVKY "Good Fight"]], from the ''WebAnimation/RoosterTeethAnimatedAdventures'' Episode 100 that mocked anime for all it was worth.

** ''Spear of Destiny: The Kaiseki''--one can only assume Pontes was thinking of ''kiseki'' but decided to come up with a similar word after realizing that was the Japanese name of the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'', as a ''kaiseki'' is a traditional seven course Japanese dinner. This effectively translates to ''Spear of Destiny: The Fancy Dinner''.

** ''Taishogun: Rise of Emperor''--to use German as an example, this is the equivalent of calling a game ''Reichschancellor: Rise of Kaiser''.

* Some releases of the original ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' have the Morph Ball labeled with its Japanese name, ''Maru Mari''.

* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'':
** [[{{Otaku}} Travis Touchdown]] and [[McNinja Shinobu]] both blurt out "Moe!" for something good. The latter does this to emulate the former, though she pronounces it awkwardly ("Mo-Way!") and doesn't know what it means despite being the #1 Assassin of Asia. This has an extra twist, since the term started as schoolgirl slang until Western fans began using it ironically.
** Shinobu herself is an example of this trope, as her real name is Scarlet Jacobs and she's (presumably) American - she just took a Japanese nickname (the dictionary form of shinobi) for no apparent reason.

Wiki/TVTropes itself has had a bit of problem with this trope in the past, leading to rules against naming new tropes after Japanese phrases that aren't necessarily clear to people who speak primarily English (and this is an English site, after all).

{{Fansub}}s also have a bad habit of adding gratuitous Japanese, [[TooLongDidntDub along with a footnote with a translation]]. It's pervasive enough that it led to the meme "Just according to keikaku (Translator's note: keikaku means plan)" from a parody of a ''Manga/DeathNote'' fansub. This, however, has led to hypercorrection, leading fansubbers to use inaccurate translations of hard-to-translate terms like "{{tsundere}}" that even Wiki/ThisVeryWiki will leave untranslated as distinct concepts. Translation is hard.

* LetsPlay/ManlyBadassHero tends to use Japanese phrases and words in his gameplays.

** The others aren't immune either. Haruhi addresses her seniors in school an "[[SenpaiKohai senpai]]", and the other club member call her "Haru-chan".

This is a subtrope of GratuitousForeignLanguage and really should be used with extreme care.

* In general, many Japanese terms will be left untranslated in {{fansub}}s or scanlations, with translators claiming that they refer to concepts that are [[TooLongDidntDub difficult to translate into English]]. In some cases (as with "{{tsundere}}"), they're right. But in others, they're not. One of the worst offenders is the word "UsefulNotes/{{baka}}", a derogatory term roughly meaning "idiot" or "moron", which is often left untranslated even though it could be easily swapped for...well, "idiot", with no nuance lost. Many of these words became part of UsefulNotes/AnimeFanSpeak.
* Western anime fans typically call Japanese voice actors "seiyuu", which is simply [[YouAreTheTranslatedForeignWord Japanese for "voice actor".]] That is, the Japanese will call ''any'' voice actor a "seiyuu", regardless of nationality. The reason for this is that Japanese voice actor expert [[http://www.usagi.org/doi/seiyuu/index.html Hitoshi Doi]] created one of the first detailed online databases of Japanese voice actors; since his English wasn't very good and he probably wasn't familiar with the proper term, he referred to them all as "seiyuu". Western fans thought there was something special about them that merited a new term, and it stuck when referring specifically to Japanese [=VAs=]. It's gotten to the point that many English-speaking Japanese voice actors, such as Creator/YuuAsakawa, also call themselves "seiyuu" when interacting with Western fans.
* The terms "anime" and "manga" have a similar origin. These are general terms in Japanese to refer to ''any'' cartoon or comic book, respectively. However, in the West, they've been adopted to specifically refer to works of Japanese origin. But anime and manga are at least sufficiently different from their Western counterparts for those terms to see much wider usage in the West, even among non-fans. It's also worth noting that the term "manga" was later borrowed by Chinese and Korean to refer to their own take of comics, {{Manhua}} and {{Manhwa}}, respectively.
* {{Fansub}}s also have a bad habit of adding gratuitous Japanese, [[TooLongDidntDub along with a footnote with a translation]]. It's pervasive enough that it led to the meme "Just according to keikaku (Translator's note: keikaku means plan)" from a parody of a ''Manga/DeathNote'' fansub. This, however, has led to hypercorrection, leading fansubbers to use inaccurate translations of hard-to-translate terms like "{{tsundere}}" that even Wiki/ThisVeryWiki will leave untranslated as distinct concepts. Translation is hard.

* Done deliberately as a {{woolseyism}} in the first volume of ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei''. When Kaere is in her [[YamatoNadeshiko Kaede]] [[SplitPersonality personality]], she uses several Japanese phrases, which are transliterated (rather than translated as they would be for other characters) and she even refers to herself as a YamatoNadeshiko. All of this is to show how this personality is an exaggeration of how an actual Japanese person would act.
* The English dub of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' never bothers translating the word "jutsu", even though it could easily be rendered as "technique" or something similar. This may be due to "jutsu" sounding ninja-like. (The Viz manga translates it as "art" - for example, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" is "Art of the Shadow Doppelgänger" in the manga and "Shadow Clone Jutsu" in the anime.) They also refer to their teachers as "sensei", which in real life is used for those in respectable occupations, not just teachers but also doctors and writers (the manga translates this as "master," an example being "Master Kakashi"). If one were to listen, however, using "sensei" gratuitously in an English dub is actually more common than one might think.

* The English dub of ''Anime/CodeGeass'' gets away with a potential justification. Since about half the cast is Japanese rebels with a strong sense of national pride, any scene where they use honorifics signifies that [[TranslationConvention they're speaking Japanese but it's being "translated" for the benefit of the viewer]].
* The English dub of ''Anime/DuelMasters'' included some Japanese phrases such as "Ike" ("Go!") and "Todome da" ("The finishing blow!") during the games.
* Due to the popularity of ''Manga/InitialD'' the Toyota Sprinter Trueno is also known as "Hachi-Roku" (eight-six). This is due to the fact that the car's chassis number is ([=AE86=]), and it's usually left untranslated by fans. Due to Toyota's way of numbering, this means that the engine bay will fit an A-series engine. Fans of the series will note that the engine used in Takumi's 86 is a 4A-GE (both versions) which means that it is an A-series engine.

* In ''Manga/KiniroMosaic'', [[ButNotTooForeign Karen]]'s crash course in her father's mother language worked for the most part, but her Japanese has an audible accent—and the way she says "good morning" became an In-Universe MemeticMutation.
* All the adaptations of ''LightNovel/NinjaSlayer'' has this in both English and ''Japanese'' versions. How they managed to pull this trope when the native language of the story in ''already in Japanese?'' By using the language in a very ''incorrect'' way, like using honorifics when you '''should not''' use them, especially when addressing to someone who is your most hated enemy, your senior or similar circunstances, not to mention mixing English, Japanese and even ''Chinese'' words or out-of-place terms, like the BigBad being named ''Laomoto Khan''.
* In season 2, episode 10 of ''Manga/{{Genshiken}}'', when Kousaka introduces himself (in Japanese) to the American Angela, who had been speaking English up to that point, she responds in kind and introduces herself to him back in Japanese (or attempts to, at least). In the dub of the episode, this is retained, despite the fact that Kousaka is now speaking English. This is especially jarring, as the dub had been doing everything in its power to write around the absence of a language barrier that was present in the sub (and will continue to do so all the way through the next episode).
* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'': Since the series takes place in Prohibition-era America, it manages to do this even ''in the original Japanese''. In ''The Slash'' Firo manages to massively piss [[TheDitz Isaac and Miria]] off enough (by knocking over their domino setup too early--it's SeriousBusiness, people) that they start yelling at him in Japanese. Firo was just as confused as you are.
-->'''Isaac and Miria:''' わああん!フィーロの唐変木!無知蒙昧!底抜け凡愚の世間知らずーっ![[note]]AAAAGH! Firo, you cretin! You ignoramus! You empty-headed, absolutely unworldly peasant![[/note]]\\
'''Firo:''' Wuh, where're... What?
* ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' has Rock speaking Japanese one time, even in the dub. Justified because he's acting as a TranslatorBuddy, and that he's speaking his native tongue to a Yakuza head.
** For reference, the characters are speaking English as a lingua-franca, while the original Japanese airing is in mostly in Japanese. Unlike most anime, the characters are not speaking in Japanese, in universe. Most of the cast are American aside from the Narrator, Rock, and the show is based in the Thailand coast.
* In the official dub of ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'', resident harem and dating sim otaku Renge Houshakuji uses Japanese terms like "moe-moe" for no other reason than to make her stand out as the obsessive member of the cast. Other uses of such words by other cast members ''do'' get translated when appropriate.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', the Samurai's abilities all have Japanese names. This may be because ''[[UpToEleven the Japanese version itself is an example of this trope]]'', with all the Samurai abilities written entirely in Kanji.

* Piston Honda in the NES version of ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' behaves kind of like a JapaneseTourist, because they put this into his character. The following is one of his between-round quotes. Seriously:
--> "Sushi, kamikaze, Fujiyama, Nippon'ichi..."
** Remedied in the Wii version, where he is now Piston Hond'''o''', and pretty much a {{Samurai}} boxer. Plus, now he speaks exclusively in [[BilingualBonus genuine Japanese.]]

* ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge'' has gratuitous katakana on shipping crates... all gibberish.
** And [[GratuitousForeignLanguage gratuitous Simplified Chinese]]. [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld Does that mean..?]]

* ''Manga/{{Evangelion 303}}'': Averted most of time, but the author used it once to [[MythologyGag give a shout-out to the original material]]:

* Parodied in ''FanFic/SheFoundOut'', a ''Manga/DeathNote'' fanfic.

* The ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' fanfic ''FanFic/TenshiTrail'' takes this to ''ridiculous'' extremes, making completely unnecessary word substitutions in both the dialogue and actual writing. What makes this even more baffling is that the show does not take place in Japan and ''none of the main characters are Japanese.'' Some examples include:

* ''FanFic/MyImmortal'' uses quite a bit of Fangirl Japanese -- in a ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fic.

* The FanFic/DevaSeries has quite a bit of GratuitousJapanese, often in the form of common statements such as "Hai" and "Gomen nasai", and occasional phrases ("Ohayo, minnnaaaa-ssaaaaan!").

* ''Fanfic/StarkitsProphecy'' uses this a lot. In case you didn't know, all the characters are '''[[{{xenofiction}} cats]]'''. This actually makes the GratuitousJapanese more plausible; writing the cats' dialogue in English is just a TranslationConvention, so it doesn't matter what language is used. There's also a high chance that it's a TrollFic (see Fanfic/MyImmortal).

* [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Eva-fanfic]] ''FanFic/TheSecondTry'' keeps "baka" and "hentai"... almost exclusively for Asuka insulting Shinji. It also keeps a grand total of one honorific when referring to [[spoiler:Aki]], which is mainly used to emphasize how adorable that particular character is.
* [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2659638/1/The_Hitchhikers_Guide_To_The_Stage_of_History The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Stage of History]] parodies this by having Setsuka (a caucasian woman born and raised in Japan) speak almost entirely in this [[spoiler: untill she pulls [[TheStarscream a starscream]] on Zalshamal]].
* A justified, subverted and parodied version in FMA fanfiction [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7986051/1/The_Seven_Names_of_Envy_Angevin The Seven Names of Envy Angevin.]] Ling Yao uses lots of gratuitous Japanese, but nobody else does (although Mei is yet to be determined) and Roy Mustang even calls him on not actually knowing Japanese. In the anime, Ling and Mei are the equivalent of being Chinese, so having them be Japanese is a break from canon...then again, it's an AU fic.
* The characters of the ''FanFic/TamersForeverSeries'' all start using Japanese honorifics during ''Silent Sorrow''. Fortunately, the author is one of the few fanfic writers who actually knows what these words mean. so this is actually a SubvertedTrope
* ''FanFic/TheHumanWhoseNameIsWrittenInThisFanfiction'' gives us a ParodySue named Yumi Toyota Nintendo Sushi-Fuji.
* ''{{Fanfic/Boys Und Senshado}}'' uses a fair amount. For example, [[EagleLand Kay, of all people]] (who would be more likely to use GratuitousEnglish instead) yells "NANI!?" in the middle of a match.

* In ''FanFic/SwimmingInTerror'', at least the author's notes have a lot of Gratuitous Japanese. There is also a part where someone is called {{Kawaiiko}}.
* The incredibly bad {{Webcomic/Homestuck}} fan fiction ''FanFic/TarvosAndFairieALoveStory'' is loaded with this, including but not limited to "Koibito Minano".

* In ''FanFic/ThisBites'', most techniques are translated into English, but Haki stays Japanese.
* ''FanFic/MyLittlePonyNakamaIsMagic'' is full of this, including from the mane six.
* {{Lampshaded}} in ''FanFic/EquestriaGirlsFriendshipSouls'' by Sunset Shimmer during her Soul Reaper training when she asks why so many techniques, release commands and other things use Japanese terminology. Clover replies that since the original Soul Reapers were from Japan, they just kept the naming conventions out of tradition. [[spoiler:Hilariously, it's actually because Bowtie (or as he prefers to be called, ''Chonekutai'') of the Zero Division loved the country of his birth so much that he insisted on using the "beautiful" language whenever he could, even in the modern day to fellow Zero Division member and his younger sister Medley's exsaperation.]] Similar justification is given to Human Twilight as to why Quincies still use German terminology, as that was the country of their King, Sombra's, birth.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee'', [[Franchise/FireEmblem Marth and Roy]] speak Japanese in all versions of the game. This may be because Nintendo intended [[NoExportForYou dummy them out for the American release]], but the localization team liked them enough to keep them in the game. Most of the characters in ''Melee'' actually ''still'' had Japanese voice actors - with many of them using English catch phrases ("Mission Comprete!"). Strangely, everyone who actually spoke got an English voice actor in ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl Brawl]]'' (including fellow ''Fire Emblem'' character Ike, since he had an English voice actor in his own game)... ''except'' Marth. Given that he '''still''' speaks Japanese in [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU the fourth game]], despite ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon]]'' getting an English release in between it and ''Brawl'', it's likely that this has become something of a tradition at this point. However, in ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate Ultimate]]'', Marth and Roy are ''finally'' voiced in English outside Japan. All of this only serves to perplex those who consider the in-game inversion; Lucas from ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'' has always had English dialogue in ''Brawl'' (even in the original Japanese), despite the fact that he's from [[NoExportForYou a game that Western gamers have been fruitlessly clamouring for for years.]]

* In ''Videogame/FateGrandOrder'', Osakabehime in the English localization speaks in a combination of this and combining Japanese and English together, resulting in words such as "Gomenasorry" or "Sore wa chigawrong".

[[folder:ウェブコミック (Web Comics)]]

* In ''[[Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob,]]'' the four ninja siblings speak Tokugawa era Japanese, though they are now learning English. When speaking Japanese, their dialogue is usually presented in English in <brackets>, but is occasionally written out in Japanese, often in kanji. Even sound effects connected to them are likely to be written in kanji.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' featured original character Asami Koizumi, who only speaks a butchered version of Japanese in a very obvious American accent. Half her lines are simply "sumimasen!", which is mistranslated as a warning of danger. At one point, after a scientist asks her to help save his son, Asami responds with an untranslated word soup of "You're welcome. See ya. A moment. Excuse me!"

* A LOT of Anime fanfics feature characters speaking random Japanese words and phrases, which makes little sense since one would assume they're supposed to be speaking Japanese all the time.

* It's extremely common in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' fanfiction for everyone to call [[TheTrickster Duo]] "Braided Baka" -- regardless of character's national origin, and Wufei tossing around "Onna", when everything else is in English.

* There is a ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' fanfic out there where the author uses "baka" straight. As a noun. ''He pluralises it by adding -s.''
** Not to mention the constant fanfics that have Vegeta calling Bulma "Onna" and talking about how he's the "Saiya-jin No Ouji" and came from "Vegeta-sei"
** Franchise/DragonBall fandom is particularly guilty of this trope, though in some cases it's because authors are using Japanese to represet alien (usually Saiya-jin) dialects. Perhaps a rare case of a JustifiedTrope given that Toriyama used English for Vegeta's attacks for exactly this purpose.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' fanfic authors often suffer from this, because they fail to do any research:
** [[YouKeepUsingThatWord There is no such honorific as "-teme"!]] It's a pronoun! '''A PRONOUN!''' To quote Naruto, 'Sasuke, TEME!' means 'Sasuke, you!!' "Teme" is considered a very, very rude, insulting version of "you", and not "bastard", not "jerk", not anything else! Considering the context it is often used in, i.e. the tone of voice, terms such as "bastard" and "jerk" are more apt to get across what Naruto is actually meaning to say. Japanese, as a language, does ''not'' translate well into English.
** Similarly, Sasuke [[BeamMeUpScotty does not call Naruto "dobe" ("dead last") ''nearly'' as much as fanfic writers love to use it]]. In an odd aversion, his [[CatchPhrase distinctive insult]] "usuratonkachi" ("useless idiot," lit. "thin hammer") is almost completely ignored (thankfully). And it's treated like an AffectionateNickname while Naruto adding -no-Baa-chan or similar to Tsunade earn him a punch.
** Adding "no jutsu" to the end of every technique, to the point where even the [[MundaneUtility Mundane Utilities]] have the word jutsu after it, as well as how "jutsu" is treated as some foreign ninja word in {{Crossover}} fics
** Also apparently the fandom think that kit and Vixen are Japanese.
** Many writers also often use "sochi" (sic) for "son", instead of the proper ''musuko''. It's especially common whenever Kushina refers to her son [[spoiler:Naruto]].
** A lot of flipflopping between the English and Japanese names for things. Saying "shadow clone" in one sentence, immediately followed by saying "kage bunshin" the next, is one of the more glaring ones.

* The ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' fandom is an interesting case, as the canon actually has a [[MoeAnthropomorphism personification of Japan]] for whom it's a widely accepted practice to have him use Japanese honorifics and even the occasional Japanese term in fanworks as a sort of VerbalTic. However, some fanworks still definitely go overboard with this trope for him, and there's debate over whether having Korea refer to China as "aniki" is an acceptable or unacceptable use of this trope.
* One author just gave up and had his character use American slang in a ''Naruto'' fic. The sad part, the fic got better.
* April Richards' ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' fanfics have a tendency to portray Tommy with a dark, mysterious past. And he's Japanese. For the record, he's not. He has Native American roots.
* Really, any writer who uses the term "shoujo-ai" to refer to schoolgirl lesbians.
** What's funny is, the actual Japanese term for schoolgirl lesbians is "Girls Love," in English. It's also the literal meaning of the words 'shoujo' and 'ai.' So we use GratuitousJapanese the same way they use GratuitousEnglish when referring to ''the same thing.''
** GenderFlip, and you get Boys Love and shounen ai for YaoiGuys.
* Also, using {{hentai}} for porn (it actually means pervert(ed). Typically used of a person.) Ero (for erotic) is more likely to be used in Japan; for example, an H-game is an {{Eroge}}, erotic game (game pronounced as gemu.) And {{Ecchi}} just comes from the Japanese pronunciation of the letter "H". In Japan, ecchi can mean anything from what it means in the West to what we would call hardcore hentai. And then there's other words like ''sukebe'' and ''yarashi'', which have similar-but-not-identical meanings to "hentai".
* ''Also'' also, Nakama doesn't strictly mean teammates with a [[TrueCompanions family-like bond]].
* {{Otaku}} as geek is not an affectionate term; basically, it's less 'affectionate term for enthusiastic fan' and more 'loser who will never get a girlfriend because he has no life and speaks only Klingon.' However, like many such things, it may be adopted by people it's said of and soften with time - to some. See NWordPrivileges. But ''know your Japanese friend well'' before you call him an 'otaku' for liking Franchise/StarTrek. First time he heard the word, it's highly unlikely it was said with a smile.
** Basically, all this can be summed up by saying most anime fandom Japanese terms are technically accurate but are used in a very different manner than the same words are in Japan.
* Many fanfics confuses 'nee-chan' (big sister) for 'nii-chan' (big brother).

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', many characters have the rank of "captain" and "Lieutenant/Vice Captain/Assistant Captain" (depending on what translation you're reading- "Lieutenant" is used in the dub, "Assistant Captain" in the Viz translation of the manga, and "Vice Captain" is most common for fansubs). Many fanfics leave these untranslated as "taicho" and "fukutaicho" respectively.

* The incredibly bad {{Webcomic/Homestuck}} fan fiction FanFic/TarvosAndFairieALoveStory is loaded with this, including but not limited to "Koibito Minano".

* ''VideoGame/NetHack'' does this if you play as a Samurai, renaming many of the items (helmet -> ''kabuto'', booze -> ''sake'') without changing their functionality. Some of it is very poor Japanese; "shito" (knife) was probably a typo for "shōtō" (which actually means "short sword"), and as far as anyone can tell, "gunyoki" (food rations) is a word the Dev Team just plain made up.

[[DescribeTopicHere Koko de yokeina nihongo o setsumei shite kudasai.]]\\

* The Albino Blacksheep [[WebAnimation/{{Animutation}} animutation]] "I like Bukkake" takes delight in the fact that the name of the city of Nagasaki almost rhymes with the term bukkake, meaning to dash or sprinkle water, as found in the names of certain dishes of soba and udon noodles.
** Also something far more sexual.

* ''WebAnimation/NekoSugarGirls'' runs on this trope more than anything else. The characters constantly use random Japanese and very incorrectly, which causes FridgeLogic because they're supposedly Japanese in the first place. We get memetic lines such as "I'm very arigatoful". Luckily as the series went on it became more obvious that it's a StealthParody so it seems the makers are making fun of people who pepper their language with random Japanese.

* ''WebAnimation/{{TOME}}'' does this with the scant voiced lines for a few characters and attack names in "homage" to fighting games that commonly went without english voicework in localization. The actual dialogue, however, is completely in english except when it's played for laughs. Some examples didn't do the research, like is "Kalasu Angel", a name the creator (initially) thought meant "Angel of Death" but actually meant "Angel of the Crow".

* ''Website/GaiaOnline'' both parodies this and plays it straight. The Kira Kira earrings use Gratuitous Japanese to deliberately annoy some of the users. Playing things straight, the artist Drinky Tengu has made two items which only use Japanese names for poses. (The Furugasa, which features Obakemono, and the Yama [no Kami] no Tamago, which is fittingly enough a Tengu.) And finally, Logan and Agatha (neither of whom are Japanese, though they have hung out with Ninjas in the past) named their secret love child Mirai, Japanese for "future".
* Kotaku doesn't mean anything in Japanese. Even if it looks close to "otaku," and "ko" can mean "small," it doesn't mean "small otaku."
* Sakura, the CatGirl student in ''The Official Fanfiction University of {{Literature/Redwall}}'', is a stereotypical Japanophile. She intersperses her speech with Japanese words, and has also dropped into JapaneseRanguage on at least one occasion. [[MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels Not always the right word]]; she once referred to Nagru's ermine Dirgecallers as ''"neko-chan"''. It's not clear whether she just didn't know the word for ermine or if [[ArtisticLicenseBiology she actually thought they were kittens]] - she's [[TheDitz not particularly bright]], so it could be either. She later runs into Agent Drake, who is from a Japanese-speaking continuum and represents an author that ''has'' done her research. Eventually this results in her [[http://community.livejournal.com/kit_n_minty/5788.html#cutid1 offering to sell internal organs]].
* Often a charge within the ''WebOriginal/ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum'', who seem some pretty ugly abuses of FangirlJapanese. One particularly bad case involved a character using "baka" in ''{{Literature/Redwall}}''. With poorly placed footnotes. Another one involved GratuitousSpanish, which, as Agent Mara explained, wasn't even spelled correctly.
* ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'': In Episode 48, Yugi tells Kuriboh to activate "Super Chibi Kawaii Desu Moe" mode.

* The first season of ''WebVideo/MortalKombatLegacy'' has two episodes done almost entirely in Japanese due to taking place in feudal Japan. Even Scorpion's "GET OVER HERE!" is done in Japanese, although his nickname is, for some reason, pronounced in English. The second season inexplicably switches to TranslationConvention, and even flashbacks of the Japanese episodes from Season one are redubbed in English.

* The 23rd WebVideo/{{GI Joe PSA|s}} is entirely in Japanese (mostly from a basic learning tape). The ending '''"G.I. ''JOOOOOOOE!"''''' is even translated to '''"GEE WARA TASHI FU ''SUKURUUUUUU"'''''.
* ''WebAnimation/{{Arfenhouse}} 6'' features a scene lampooning anime featuring katakana that reads "ゴトヘルアナダイ '''''ファキュ'''''". [[labelnote:Explanation]]It reads "Gotoheruanadai '''''Fakyu'''''", which roughly transliterates to "Go to hell and die. '''''Fuck you'''''."[[/labelnote]]
* In ''WebVideo/DanganronpaAbridgedThing'', this is Sayaka Maizono's stock in trade, and is PlayedForLaughs. She frequently inserts Japanese words and phrases into her dialogue, often refers to herself as "[[ThirdPersonPerson Maizono-hime]]". Naegi ends up falling into this when trying to think like she does, and her killer tries to argue that if she was really the one who wrote his name down, she'd have written "-[[UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics kun]]" after it.
-->'''Maizono''': You're such a silly baka, Naegi-kun! Hai! Watashi wa Maizono Sayaka desu!\\
'''Naegi''': Oh, yeah, I know your name is Maizono, but w-w-wait! You remember me?!\\
'''Maizono''': Well, sumima''sen'', Naegi! You think that just because Maizono is a super famous ''sugoi'' idol and a totally ''kawaii princessu'' she'd forget the little people?
** Alter Ego speaks in this manner as well, causing Naegi to complain that "the language is set to 'Maizono'". Kirigiri once asks it to "cut that weeb shit out, please", but it turns out that Fujisaki apparently ''hard-coded'' that style of speaking into it.
** Role reversal in "Rail Whores", an abridged one-shot of [[LightNovel/RailWars Rail Wars]]. Takayama, played by Faulerro, the voice actor for Naegi (and countless others) is the one who employs the trope to Sydsnap (Maizono's voice actor)'s character, Sakurai.
-->'''Takayama:''' MY NAME IS TAKAYAMA. TA-KA-YA-MA. WATASHI WA TAKAYAMA DESU.\\
'''Sakurai:''' Yeah, speak another language. [[SarcasmMode That'll help her understand you.]]\\
'''Takayama:''' ARE YOU FEELING A-DAIJOBU? DO YOU NEED ME TO MAKE YOU FEEL KIMOCHI-II?\\
'''Sakurai:''' She's old, not retarded, you idiot!\\
'''Takayama:''' WELL SUMIMA''SEN,'' SAKURAI-KUN![[note]]Takayama used the wrong honorific.[[/note]]
* In ''WebAnimation/MadokaAbridged'' Mami spouts some in a ValleyGirl voice when she's talking about the car accident.
-->'''Mami:''' Kyubey, like, tasukete, onegai\\
'''[[FunWithSubtitles Subtitle:]]''' NOW [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch BITCH]]!
** Another scene when Madoka runs into the possessed Hitomi.
-->'''Hitomi:''' Ara, Kaname-san, gokigen'yo?\\
'''Madoka:''' Where are you going? And why am I not questioning your vacant expression and odd greeting?
* [[WebVideo/RanmaOneHalfAbridged Ranma 1/2 Abridged]] has some one-time-appearance characters speak only in unsubtitled Japanese.
* WebAnimation/AcedemySugoiSeiun has random Japanese words thrown into almost every line.
-->'''Sakura:''' Hai, ka-san! Gomenne for not hearing my clock ~nya!\\
'''Sakura's Mom:''' Daijoubu Sakura-nyan! Now go to school you silly neko!
* Even though the characters all live in Texas the paranormal investigation group's logo in ''WebAnimation/MysterySkullsAnimated'' reads Music/MysterySkulls 💀 ミステリー・スカルズ [[note]](their name in Katakana)[[/note]] referencing Vivi's Japanese heritage.
* Twilight in ''WebVideo/FriendshipIsWitchcraft'' is an otaku and occasionally uses Japanese. Being a [[ThisLoserIsYou parody of anime fans]], she uses incorrect Japanese.
* ''WebAnimation/TheMisadventuresOfR2AndMiku'': [[Music/{{Vocaloid}} Miku]] always uses "hai" in lieu of "yes" (though the subtitles simply use "yes" whenever she does).
* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': Japanese Culture Greg from WebAnimation/TeenGirlSquad is a parody of American anime fans who randomly peppers his sentences with Japanese words (and always makes an {{Animesque}} face when he does so).
* The {{Animesque}} fight scene in the ''WebVideo/ScottTheWoz'' episode "Anime Games" has Japanese subtitles... [[GagSub that are in fact Google Translated gibberish]] that don't match up with what the characters are actually saying.