What Japan thinks of mother-in-laws
Watching television last night, one quiz program featured a question about someone who kept a garden specialising in one single genus. One member of the genus is called 姑のざぶとん, shutome no zabuton, mother-in-law cushion, so what is the genus. I laughed out loud at such an obvious and easy question and at the image of this cushion, but my Japanese wife looked blank, and even after explaining the answer to her she just didn’t get it. Back in the studio, just one out of the six celebrities on the panel got the right answer, the sweet and innocent 乙葉, Otoha, but she had to suffer the disapproval of the other guests, and apologised to the question-master and the audience at home for casting such aspersions on mother-in-laws everywhere.
I thought the mother-in-law as the butt of jokes was a universal theme. Is this just a British thing, or do my readers from other countries also find the name “mother-in-law cushion” hilarious?
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James said,
April 23, 2007 @ 08:17
Are you talking about Satuday night’s 世界ふしぎ発見 , or whatever it’s called, where they went to Monaco? Because I happened to learn the same cactus vocabulary from it as well, and found it to be amusing. My gf didn’t laugh or anything, but I think she understood why it has that name.
Ken Y-N said,
April 23, 2007 @ 10:12
That’s the one, James! Are the no mother-in-law jokes in Japan?
Mina said,
November 14, 2007 @ 13:22
In Brazil there are many jokes about mothers-in-law! Theis image is like an evil for the daughter`s-in-law!
I read the article about you and your blog in Japan Times online version, and I just couldn`t stop clicking to links to older posts!! There are many interesting and funny info here! May I add a link to your blog in mine?
cheers,
Mina