Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on January 2010

Inspired by a post at the Tokyo Shift blog, which listed bizarre Google auto-complete suggestions for “Why is Japan so…”, we tried a few searches of our own. Here are some highlights, along with their Japanese-language equivalents.

Japan is…
weird; an island lyrics; an island; famous for; known for; awesome; better than America

日本は。。。
なぜ貧しい人が多いのか (has lots of poor people, why?); 終了しました (is finished); 侵略国家であったのか (was an aggressor nation?); 反省しる (should reflect); もう立ち直れない (can’t recover)

Why does Japan…
have so many earthquakes; kill whales; get bonus tracks; have a high life expectancy; have a low crime rate; censor; drive on the left; have little arable land

日本はなぜ。。。[Why does/is Japan…]
貧しい人が多いのか (have a lot of poor people); 敗れるのか (defeated); 旅客機を作れないのか (unable to make passenger planes); ユダヤ人を迫害しなかったのか [Why didn’t Japan persecute Jewish people?]

My husband…
is annoying; hates me; doesn’t love me; is a jerk; ignores me; cheated on me; is an alcoholic; is depressed; needs a job; betty

夫は。。。
外で働き、妻は家庭を守るべきである [Husbands work outside, wives should protect the home];
偽者 (an imposter); 教育が肝心 (thinks education is important); あのままバスに乗っていなくてよかった、と思ったが [I wish my husband hadn’t gotten on the bus like that]; 理系 (a scientist); 人というより物 (a thing, not a person)