41 - Classic Japanese Love Song

When I went to Japan in 2013, I was scared.

I was moving to a foreign country--a place where I had no friends, no family.

And I was going to start a job I didn't know how to do.

I felt like I was diving into a pitch-black pit of 'unknown.'

So yeah, I was scared.

But I went anyway.

And I worked.

And I made friends... somehow.

And then I made Japanese friends... somehow*2.

And there was this one moment, about four or five months in, when I was at karaoke with my Japanese friends.

Everyone was laughing, chatting, having a good time (speaking Japanese!), and it all felt surreal to me. What am I doing here? How did I come to meet these people? To be in this room.

I was so grateful.

I was doing it--finally!

I was speaking this language that lured me in years before. I was learning about the intricate, fascinating details of some people that, without Japanese, I never would have known.

One of the girls grabbed the microphone and, in one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard, she sang the following song.

It's a song that, for obvious reasons, is special to me.

Not to mention, it's a song that 99.9% of Japanese people know the words to (a classic from 1999).

So maybe we should learn it too...

↑↑ "First Love," by Hikaru Utada ↑↑

Full Lyrics

1 最後のキスはタバコの flavor がした
2 ニガくてせつない香り

3 明日の今頃には
4 あなたはどこにいるんだろう
5 誰を思ってるんだろう

6 You are always gonna be my love
7 いつか誰かとまた恋に落ちても

8 I'll remember to love
9 You taught me how
10 You are always gonna be the one
11 今はまだ悲しい love song

12 新しい歌 歌えるまで

13 立ち止まる時間が動き出そうとしてる
14 忘れたくないことばかり

15 明日の今頃には 私はきっと泣いている

16 あなたを思ってるんだろう yeah yeah yeah

17 You will always be inside my heart
18 いつもあなただけの場所があるから

19 I hope that I have a place in your heart too
20 Now and forever you are still the one
21 今はまだ悲しい love song

22 新しい歌 歌えるまで

23 You are always gonna be my love
24 いつか誰かとまた恋に落ちても

25 I'll remember to love
26 You taught me how
27 You are always gonna be the one
28 まだ悲しい love song

29 Now and forever・・・

Lyrics with Romaji

1 Saigo no kissu wa tabako no flavor ga shita
2 Nigakute setsunai kaori

3 Ashita no imagoro ni wa
4 Anata wa doko ni irun darou
5 Dare wo omotterun darou

6 You are always gonna be my love
7 Itsuka darekato mata koi ni ochitemo
8 I'll remember to love
9 You taught me how
10 You are always gonna be the one
11 Ima wa mada kanashii love song
12 Atarashii uta utaeru made

13 Tachidomaru jikan ga ugoki dasouto shiteru
14 Wasuretakunai kotobakari

15 Ashita no imagoro niwa
16 Watashi wa kitto naite iru
17 Anatawo omotterun darou

18 You will always be inside my heart
19 Itsumo anata dake no basho ga aru kara
20 I hope that I have a place in your heart too
21 Now and forever you are still the one
22 Ima wa mada kanashii love song
23 Atarashii uta utaeru made

24 You are always gonna be my love
25 Itsuka darekato mata koi ni ochitemo
26 I'll remember to love-- you taught me how
27 You are always gonna be the one...
28 Mada kanashii love song, yeah...
29 Now and forever

English Lyrics

1 Our last kiss tasted like cigarettes
2 A sad and bitter fragrance

3 About this time tomorrow,
4 I wonder where you'll be.
5 Wonder who you'll be thinking of.

6 You are always gonna be my love
7 Even if I fall for someone else someday
8 I'll remember to love
9 You taught me how
10 You are always gonna be the one
11 It's still a sad love song
12 Until I can sing a new one

13 This moment in time is about to move on
14 But I don't want to forget any of it

15 This time tomorrow, I'll be crying
16 Probably thinking about you

17 You will always be inside my heart
18 There will always be a place just for you
19 I hope that I have a place in your heart, too
20 Now and forever you are still the one
21 It's still a sad love song
22 Until I can sing a new one

23 You are always gonna be my love
24 Even if I fall for someone else someday
25 I'll remember to love
26 You taught me how
27 You are always gonna be the one
28 It's still a sad love song

29 Now and forever...

Notes

Just staring at a list of lyrics doesn't really help at all, does it?

So let's get down on some study action!

(I can't explain everything, so I'll just pick out bits and pieces.)

Lines 1-2

最後のキスはタバコの flavor がした
ニガくてせつない香り
Saigo no kissu wa tabako no flavor ga shita
Nigakute setsunai kaori

Our last kiss tasted like cigarettes
A bittersweet fragrance

(Literally, Line #1: "last + の + kiss + は + tobacco/cigarettes + の + flavor + が + did")
(Literally, Line #2: "bitter + sad/painful + aroma")

We have a random English word, "flavor," popping up here. But the Japanese word 味 (aji), "flavor," would work just fine, as well.

~味がする (aji ga suru) means "to taste like ~."
The literal meaning is "~ flavor + が + do/make."

Examples..

これ変な味がする
kore hen na aji ga suru
This tastes weird.
(Literally: "this + strange + flavor + が + does.")

懐かしい味がする
natsukashii aji ga suru
This flavor brings back memories.
(Literally: "nostalgic + flavor + が + does.")
(Note: Depending on the context, other translations may be better, I suppose.)

Like in the song, we can use past tense, too:

それ変な味がした
kore hen na aji ga shita
This tasted weird.
(Literally: "this + strange + flavor + が + did.")

(Note: For example, if you're talking about some food on the table that you tried an hour ago.)

懐かしい味がした
natsukashii aji ga shita
The flavor brought back memories.
(Literally: "nostalgic + flavor + が + did.")
(Note: Out of context, it's hard to guess the subject.)

We also have this word 切ない (setsunai), which has not only a very strange reading for the kanji 切, "cut," but also a hard-to-pin meaning, as well.

My dictionary says:

切ない
setsunai
oppressive; suffocating; painful; trying; distressing; heartbreaking

I think that these translation are too negative.

That's why you'll sometimes see 切ない translated to "wistful," which has a kind of positive nuance.

I think this isn't the best translation, either... because 切ない is not really a good feeling.

So why in the world did I translate 苦くて切ない (nigakute setsunai), to "bittersweet," when it actually means something like "bitter + painful/sad?"

Well, my best excuse is that the singer might still like this smell.

It just hurts her, is all.

If you listen to all of the lyrics, she's not bitter. Not angry.

So, yeah...

Maybe you can do better.

Lines 3-5

明日の今頃には
あなたはどこにいるんだろう
誰を思ってるんだろう
Ashita no imagoro ni wa
Anata wa doko ni irun darou
Dare wo omotterun darou

About this time tomorrow,
I wonder where you'll be.
Wonder who you'll be thinking of.

(Literally, Line #3: "tomorrow + の + around now + は")
(Literally, Line #4: "you + は + where + に + will be + ん + I wonder")
(Literally, Line #5: "who + を + thinking [of] + I wonder")

I saw a translation online that wrote:

About this time tomorrow,
Where will you be?
Who will you be thinking of?

I thought this was a bad translation, because you don't use だろう (darou) at the end of direct questions like this.

If I said どこにいるの? (doko ni iru no?), we could translate it to "Where are you?"

(Note: Depending on the context, it could also mean "Where is he/she/them/etc.")
If I ask this question, I am hoping for--am expecting--an answer.

But if I said, どこにいるんだろう (doko ni iru n darou // [no question mark & no rising intonation!]), then I don't necessarily expect an answer.

So I wrote, "I wonder where you'll be." The nuance is that she's asking herself.

Even if you ask someone about a third party, the nuance is that the listener might NOT know the answer:

彼はどこにいるんだろう
kare wa doko ni iru n darou
I wonder where he is. // Do you have any idea where he might be?

Line 7

I talk about 恋に落ちる (koi ni ochiru), "fall for someone" in this article: "How to Say 'I love you' in Japanese."

Line 13-14

立ち止まる時間が動き出そうとしてる
忘れたくないことばかり
Tachidomaru jikan ga ugoki dasouto shiteru
Wasuretakunai koto bakari

This moment in time is about to move on
But I don't want to forget any of it

(Literally, Line #13: "pause + time + が + [about to] start moving")
(Literally, Line #14: "don't want to forget + things + only")

I really really really didn't want to include notes on these two lines, because I don't know how to smoothly translate them.

But that'd be a cop-out, right?

The problem was this phrase:

立ち止まる時間
tachidomaru jikan

Some translations I saw online were saying whack stuff like "the paused time." But who says that in English?

But 立ち止まる (tachidomaru) does mean "to pause; to stop; to halt; to be at a standstill."

So I can see where they're coming from.

But "pausing time" or "standstill time" or "halted time" sounded wrong to me, so I went with "moment in time."

Then we've got this nasty beast:

動き出そうとしてる
ugokidasou to shiteru

When you put a verb in the volitional (I think... I suck at conjugation names), then add としてる (to shiteru) to it, it could mean (1) "about to do" or (2) "try to do."

In this case we have #1:

動き出そうとしてる
ugokidasou to shiteru
(It's) about to move (on).

But for #2, I might say...

ケーキを作ろうとしてる
keeki wo tsukurou to shiteru
I'm trying to make a cake.

This is one of the very few grammar functions I learned without a book! I just picked it up copying all my J-homies.

Wrapping Up

Sorry for the uber-long lesson!

Boundless shame rains down upon me. T_T

I guess I got carried away, because I was getting caught up in a memory.

Because, yeah...

There are those rare moments in life where--all at once, it seems--your chest is aching with feeling, a moment that hurts you just by being so full of unsustainable joy.

And this was one of those moments for me.

I hope that, in your journey to Japanese fluency, you can have a multitude of such moments as well.


Bonus Phrases

元カノのこと思い出すと切なくなる。
もとカノ の こと おもいだす と せつなく なる。
Thinking about my ex-girlfriend makes me sad.
Literally: ex-girlfriend + のこと + recall + と + painful + become

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