Japanese Slang (6 page)

•   
Aitsu wa anma ni wa chotto toshi ga ikisugiteru ze.
He's getting to be a bit old to be a blind masseur.

•   
Oi, hora, are o mite miro yo! K
mori ga yojinobotteru ze!
Yo, man, take a look at that! Look at that bat scamper up!

•   
Oi, miro yo! Ano futari no chinsa wa Kawasaki ni sunderun da ze!
Yo, look there! Those two night thieves live in Kawasaki!

•   
Ano onna ga kono atari dewa ichiban no s
s
yotsu da'tte koto omae shitteta kai?
That woman there, did you know she's the best night thief around here?

Thieves who go on walks looking for eligible houses are said to be flowing
(nagasu).
During these flows, buildings are carefully appraised and classed according to potential loot, lighting, street exposure, and the accessibility of front and back entrances and windows. Likely looking houses are earmarked as
anzan
(“easy deliveries,” as in birth) or
andon
(flimsy lanterns), while buildings that offer easy entry but are
dangerously close to busy roads or police stations are rated as
gan kitsui
(the eyes are tough), and more lyrically
oki ga kurai
(the seascape is dark).

•   
Nante kot'a! Koko wa anzen no hazu datta no ni, aitsu tsukamachimatta ze!
What the fuck! This was meant to be an easy job and he got busted!

•   
Iy
! Nanda kono hen, zenbu andon ja n
ka? Kor'a boro m
ke da ze!
Man! Fuckin'-A! This area is full of easy houses! We're really gonna cash in!

•   
Kono hen wa gan kitsui kara, saketa h
ga ii ze.
A void this neighborhood. The eyes are tough.

•   
H
! Kono yakata wa mepp
ii ga, oki ga kurai ze.
What a beautiful, stately mansion. Pity the seascape's so dark.

After flowing past house after house, the thieves close in on the most suitable target in three phases.
Toba o kimeru
(choosing the den) is the preliminary audition, in which whole rows of homes are given a general glance-over.
Toba o tsunagu
(tethering the den) is the second, closer look in which alarm systems and entry and exit points are examined. The final stage is
toba o fumu
(stepping on the den): out of all the possible targets, one home is chosen, and the thief approaches it, tool bag in hand. Once a house has been picked, the thieves proclaim
ate ga tsuku
(the aim will be fulfilled), and it graduates from being a
toba
(den) to a
taisaki,
pronounced by some groups
daisaki
(the table ahead).

Many of the better burglar gangs employ individu-als who make a career of spotting vulnerable houses.
In the post-war years in Tokyo these men and women came to be known as
doroya
(streetsters) and
hiki
(pullers), while in Osaka and Kyoto they were given the pastoral title of
hitsujimawashi
(meandering sheep). The gang would pay them
tsukesage
(touchdown), the cab-and bus-fare from one location to the next, and if they spotted a good house would guarantee them
kabu
(stocks), a share in the loot. As criminals became more and more affluent during the sixties, seventies, and eighties, the
kurumaebi,
or prawns (literally “car shrimps”), moved in on the scene. These were the modern “streetsters” and “pullers,” who combed their areas by car. Spotting a prime target, they would whip out their car phone, and crouching secretively (hence the “shrimp”), would quickly beep a burglar.

Thieves who work alone are known as
ichimaimono
(one sheet of individual). Some are completely independent of larcenous attendants; others have sturdy gang affiliations but do breaking and entering on their own. Thieves who work in pairs are classed as
nimaimono
(two sheets of individual), in threes,
sanmaimono
(three sheets of individual), and in foursomes,
yonmaimono
(four sheets of individual).

•   
Aitsu wa sh
gai ichimaimono de t
s
'tten dakara, mattaku hen na yatsu da ze!
He's real weird; he's been a loner all along.