Monday, August 13, 2012

Sumikkogurashi


Sumikkogurashi

Japanese Name: すみっコぐらし
Literal Translation: Corner Living
Released: September 2012
Original Japanese: WWW

Japanese people love corners. They want to secure the corner seats when they ride trains and when they go to surrounding cafes. Somehow corners calm them down. The Sumikkogurashi character appears with this feeling as a theme. The always cold Shirokuma, confidence lacking Pengin?, leftover food(?!) Tonkatsu, and other characters appear as a wee bit negative but with great individual personalities.

日本人は、すみっコが大好き。 電車にのればすみっこの席から埋まりカフェに行ってもできるだけすみっこの席を確保したい。 なぜかすみっこが落ち着く。 そんな気持ちをテーマにしたキャラクター『すみっコぐらし』が登場。 さむがりやの“しろくま”や、自信がない“ぺんぎん?”、食べ残し(?!)の“とんかつ” など、ちょっぴりネガティブだけど個性豊かな性格のキャラクター達が登場します。



Characters
Shirokuma
White Bear

He ran away from the north. An always cold and strangers fearing bear. He calms down when he drinks warm tea in the corner.

北からにげれきた。さむがりでひとみしりのくま。あったかいお茶をすみっこでのんでるときがおちつく。
Pengin?
Penguin?

He is a penguin? He has no confidence. In the past he had a plate on his head...

じぶんはぺんぎん?じしんがない。昔はあたまにおさらがあったような…
Tonkatsu
Pork Cutlet1

Tonkatsu is an accident. He is 1% meat and 99% ambition. He is greasy and oily...

とんかつのはじっこ。おにく1%しぼう99%。あぶらっぽいからのこされちゃった…

Neko
Cat

An always shy cat. Often facing towards the corner she sharpens her claws.

はずかしがりやのねこ。よくすみっこでうしろむいてつめをといでる。
Tapioka
Tapiocaa

They are left behind when the milk tea has recently been drunk...

ミルクティーだけさきにのまれてのこされちゃった…
Zassou
Weed

Someday he dreams of being in a bouquet from the florist. Having this dream, he is a positive weed.

いつかあこがれのおはなやさんでブーケにしてもらう!というゆめをもつポジティブなくさ。

Hokori
Dust

We are in the corner! Yay!

すみっこはおれたちのにわ!いえーい!
Furoshiki
Wrapping Cloth2

Shirokuma's luggage. He can use it to hold his spot.

しろくまのにもつ。ばしょとりにつかわれる。
Nisetsumuri
Deception Head

Actually, he is a slug who wears a shell. Sorry about the lie...

じつは、からをかぶったなめくじ。うそついてすみません…


Images

Just released by San-X, Sumikkogurashi is a new character and touches upon how shy Japanese people can be. It's a little negative and points out that Japanese people like to hide in corners since they are usually extremely shy... Sitting in the corner of a cafe or on the train makes them feel relaxed. So all of our new character friends all have some issue in their personality which makes them like hiding in the corner.

In particular, Pengin? seems to be having an identity crisis and he even puts a "?" after his name since he's not even sure if he's a penguin! He used to go around with a plate on his head which made him look like a kappa and not a penguin and thus presumably caused the question of identity.


Kappa (河童, "river-child") are legendary creatures; a type of water sprite found in Japanese folklore. Some descriptions say they look like tortoises and pictures usually show kappa with thick shells and scaly skin that ranges in color from green to yellow or blue. Kappa are usually seen as mischievous troublemakers. Kappa are also said to be afraid of fire, and some villages hold fireworks festivals each year to scare the spirits away. They may befriend human beings in exchange for gifts and offerings, especially cucumbers, the only food kappa are known to enjoy more than human children. Japanese parents sometimes write the names of their children (or themselves) on cucumbers and toss them into kappa-infested waters in order to mollify the creatures and allow the family to bathe. There is even a kind of cucumber-filled sushi roll named for the kappa, the kappamaki. Wikipedia: Kappa


Kappa seem to turn up a lot in Japanese folklore and characters and two other San-X characters have kappa themes: Chokotto Iikoto! and Sabokappa.

Japanese Culture


1. Tonkatsu (豚カツ, とんかつ, or トンカツ), is a Japanese pork cutlet. It consists of a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet one to two centimeters thick and sliced into bite-sized pieces, generally served with shredded cabbage and/or miso soup. Wikipedia: Tonkatsu


The Tonkatsu character of Sumikkogurashi comes from the crumbs leftover from the tonkatsu meal and only his pink nose is the 1% meat.


2. Furoshiki (風呂敷) are a type of traditional Japanese wrapping cloth that were frequently used to transport clothes, gifts, or other goods. These days Japanese people might use furoshiki to wrap up their bento box lunch. Wikiepdia: Furoshiki


Shirokuma uses a furoshiki to tie up his belongings when he ran away from the north.

Translation Notes



a. Tapioca is a starch extracted from cassava plants. These days we see tapioca balls in bubble tea, a popular Taiwanese tea drink that originated from tea shops in Taichung, Taiwan during the 1980s. Wikipedia: Bubble Tea


34 comments:

  1. This information is awesome! I just bought a sumikkogurashi bag today at Kiddy Land in Harajuku and now I understand what makes it so freakin adorable! Thank you!

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  2. so glad i have found this website! Thanks for your effort to translate them! i really adore san-x characters.. now i know more about these cute funny stories behind the characters :3 I really like it when japanese can turn anything (even dust, weed, pork cutlet etc) into a cute sweet thing! kawaii desune!! I am from malaysia and someday i must visit Japan!

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    1. Agreed! Thanks for visiting! Hope you can visit Japan soon. :)

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  3. This is so cute omfg I love these characters, thank you for translating!

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  4. THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I LOVE READING UR SITE AND THE INFO ALWAYS MAKES MY DAY COS I ADORE SAN-X CHARACTERS BUT OFTEN DONT KNOW THE STORY BEHIND THEM. UR SITE IS SO ORGANISED AND THE INFO IS SHORT AND SWEET :D I USED TO THINK THAT SUMIKKOGURASHI WASNT ONE OF SAN-X'S MORE ADORABLE CREATIONS BUT THE STORY HAS TOTALLY CHANGED MY PERSPECTIVE~~ <333 ARIGATOOO GOZAIMASU!

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    1. Thank you for visiting and reading the stories of San-X. :) I'm glad my translations are helping!

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  5. Thank you so much for the information :3

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  6. This is a brilliant and really useful summary, thank you! I have just bought a Shirokuma and Penguin? and I am so happy <3

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  7. Thank you for writing this up, i bought a Shirokuma plushie at a convention a few days ago and had no idea what brand it was. I also looked up more about San-x though your site i'll definitely be buying more from them in the future.

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  8. Ahh, I just stumbled upon this trying to find the name behind a little toy I won from an arcade machine, turns out it's one of the Tapioca trio! He looks so meek so it's cute to see what the meaning behind the characters are, they seem sorrowful but adorable! I love Tonkatsu and Weed so much <3

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  9. THXS for writting all this info XD and if I am not wrong i remembered that there was a blue dinosaur i think but oh well ... :)

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  10. I grew up eating kappamakki all my life and never knew why it was named this. Now I know about kappa and all these cute characters who want to hide in the corner like me. thanks for this blog.

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  11. you guys missed the blue dinossaur, the smal snail and the little bird characters!! please add them as well! nevertheless, great article!

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  12. Suzume  (すずめ), the little brown sparrow, Ebi Furai no Shippo (えびふらいのしっぽ), the tail of Fried Shrimp and Tokage (とかげ), the blue lizard are missing!!

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  13. What is the shrimp's name can anyone tell me?

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  14. What about the ghost character?

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  15. i collect them and i just got my brother to start liking them too !

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  16. hi i am new here can someone tell me what to do.

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  17. where is suzume the little sparrow,bub?

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  18. can you please include the dinosaur? it's my favourite character but I don't know it's name

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. It's name is Tokage :)) it is also my favorite character

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  19. i love reading you site
    its the best

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  20. Hi! I just learnt about Sumikko Gurashi and am in love with it! I went to their website and saw their introduction and am a little confused and concerned.

    電車に乗ればすみっこの席から埋まり、カフェに行ってもできるだけすみっこの席を確保したい…。
    すみっこにいるとなぜか“落ちつく”ということがありませんか?
    さむがりの“しろくま”や、自信がない“ぺんぎん?”、食べ残し(?!)の“とんかつ”、はずかしがりやの“ねこ”、正体をかくしている“とかげ”など、ちょっぴりネガティブだけど個性的な“すみっコ”たちがいっぱい。
    すみっこが好きな方、すみっこが気になる方、あなたもすみっコなかまになりませんか?

    Using Google Tramslate, in the last paragraph, it mentions something about suicide. Please can you kindly explain why?
    Why does the last paragraph actually say please? I look forward to your kind response. =)

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  21. Thank you! I’m obsessed with these little guys and even draw them myself. Shirokuma forever!!!

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  23. Nice post thank you Michael

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