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Japanese dialects

Kyoto’s “ikezu” culture of backhanded compliments explained in hilarious souvenir sticker series

Behind the calm, polite face of a Kyotoite is an angry woman who wants to shout at you for being so uncultured.

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Japanese ad promoting Miyazaki Prefecture shows how foreign its own dialects can be 【Video】

In an attempt to draw more visitors, Kobayashi City in Japan’s Miyazaki Prefecture has released a video to promote the natural beauty and appeal of the town. The ad features a French man, talking about the quirky yet charming nature of the locals and the beautiful environment the city has to offer. As he speaks, Japanese subtitles appear at the bottom of the screen, allowing those who don’t understand French to know what the man is saying.

But the last line of the ad is throwing many Japanese viewers for a loop, as it dawns on them that the man is not actually speaking French at all, but a local Miyazaki dialect.

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