History Main / GratuitousJapanese

** When he loses a bet to Mikey (much to the amusement of his brothers), Raphael growls ''"Shimatta!"''[[note]]A more vulgar version of "dang it!"[[/note]]. [[DoesNotLikeSwearing Splinter]] immediately reprimands him.

* In ''Manga/KiniroMosaic'', [[ButNotTooForeign Karen]]'s crash course in her father's mother language worked for the most part, but her Japanese has an audible accent--and the way she says "good morning" became an In-Universe MemeticMutation.

* ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'': Since the series takes place in Prohibition-era America, it manages to do this even ''in the original Japanese''. In ''The Slash'' Firo manages to massively piss [[TheDitz Isaac and Miria]] off enough (by knocking over their domino setup too early--it's SeriousBusiness, people) that they start yelling at him in Japanese. Firo was just as confused as you are.
-->'''Isaac and Miria:''' わああん!フィーロの唐変木!無知蒙昧!底抜け凡愚の世間知らずーっ![[note]]AAAAGH! Firo, you cretin! You ignoramus! You empty-headed, absolutely unworldly peasant![[/note]]\\
'''Firo:''' Wuh, where're... What?

* ''Website/GaiaOnline'' both parodies this and plays it straight. The Kira Kira earrings use Gratuitous Japanese to deliberately annoy some of the users. Playing things straight, the artist Drinky Tengu has made two items which only use Japanese names for poses. (The Furugasa, which features Obakemono, and the Yama [no Kami] no Tamago, which is fittingly enough a Tengu.) And finally, Logan and Agatha (neither of whom are Japanese, though they have hung out with Ninjas in the past) named their secret love child Mirai, Japanese for "future".

* Mocked in ''WebAnimation/WelcomeTo Website/DeviantArt'', as the narrator [[BlatantLies states]] that the site has its own language program, where you can learn words like "desu", "kawaii", "sugoi", "nii-chan", "neko", and "waifu":

* In general, many Japanese terms will be left untranslated in {{fansub}}s or scanlations, with translators claiming that they refer to concepts that are [[TooLongDidntDub difficult to translate into English]]. In some cases (as with "{{tsundere}}"), they're right. But in others, they're not. One of the worst offenders is the word "UsefulNotes/{{baka}}", a derogatory term roughly meaning "idiot" or "moron", which is often left untranslated even though it could be easily swapped for...well, "idiot", with no nuance lost. Many of these words became part of UsefulNotes/AnimeFanSpeak.

* The tribe names in ''WesternAnimation/{{Rollbots}}'', though modified with XtremeKoolLetterz.

** When Fury tells Petra that [[spoiler:her parents were SHIELD agents]], the first thing she thinks is "bikkuri" [[note]] An expression of surprise, somewhat synonymous with a surprised [[BigOMG OMG]] [[/note]]

* Starting from Part 3, the English dub of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' left the word "muda" (useless) untranslated when used as a {{kiai}}. The ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]]'' dub, however, did have Dio says "useless" in English.

** Also the three admirals. Aokiji, Kizaru and Akainu are their titles, not their real names. Usually it would be more fitting to translate their titles to "Blue Pheasant, Yellow Monkey and Red Dog" and keep their names Kuzan, Borsalino and Sakazuki as the original. However, no translations (including the official ones) apparently bother to do that. Because One Piece makes so much use of RedBaron nicknames, some people refuse to translate them as if they were actual names.

* ''Fanfic/SpiderNinja'': During their family's first meeting with SHIELD, Leo and Mikey start arguing. Splinter tells them "''Yame!''"[[note]]Stop, or stop that [[/note]], shutting them up.

* Sword collectors and enthusiasts in the Western world often associate the term, "katana" (刀) as a specific type of Japanese sword distinct from another type of Japanese sword, such as the wakizashi (a smaller sword). In Japan, however, the word, "katana" just means "sword", and it can refer to any type like the wakizashi or even a European style sabre. This doesn't alleviate the confusion, especially considering [[EveryJapaneseSwordIsAKatana Japanese swords historically had many variations]]. The most specific type of Japanese katana Westerners often associate from popular culture and martial arts, is known as an "uchigatana" (打ち刀), which literally means "striking sword".

* Sword collectors and enthusiasts in the Western world often associate the term, "katana" (刀) as one type of Japanese sword being different from another type of Japanese sword, such as the wakizashi (a smaller sword). In Japan, however, the word, "katana" simply means "sword", and it can refer to any type like the wakizashi or even a European style sabre. This doesn't alleviate the confusion, especially considering [[EveryJapaneseSwordIsAKatana Japanese swords historically had many variations]]. The most specific type of Japanese katana Westerners often associate from popular culture and martial arts, is known as an "uchigatana" (打ち刀), which literally means "striking sword".

* Sword collectors and enthusiasts in the Western world often associate the term, "katana" (刀) as one type of Japanese sword being different from another type of Japanese sword, such as the nodachi. In Japan, however, the word, "katana" simply means "sword", and it can refer to any type like a nodachi or even a European style sabre. This doesn't alleviate the confusion, especially considering [[EveryJapaneseSwordIsAKatana Japanese swords historically had many variations]]. The most specific type of Japanese katana Westerners associate from popular culture and martial arts, is known as an "uchigatana" (打ち刀), which literally means "striking sword".

* In the Western world, the "katana" (刀) is recognized as a traditional Japanese sword used by the samurai class of feudal Japan. In Japan, the word "katana", simply means "sword", and it can refer to any type of sword like a European style sabre or falchion for instance. Combined with the fact that [[EveryJapaneseSwordIsAKatana Japan historically had many types of swords]], it doesn't help, especially for sword collectors and enthusiasts, to distinguish one Japanese sword from the other. The more specific type of Japanese katana people are accustomed to from popular culture and martial arts, is known as an "uchigatana" (打ち刀), which literally means "striking sword".

* The high-end ballista crossbow in ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}} II'' called Buriza-Do Kyanon is just "Blizzard Cannon" written with Japanese pronunciation, thus making it a reference to the company who made the game.

* In the Western world, the "katana" (刀) is often recognized as a traditional Japanese sword used by the samurai class of feudal Japan. In Japan, the word [[EveryJapaneseSwordIsAKatana "katana", simply means "sword"]], and it can refer to any type of sword like a European style sabre or falchion for instance. The more specific type of Japanese katana people are accustomed to from popular culture and martial arts, is known as an "uchigatana" (打ち刀), which literally means "striking sword".

* Sword collectors and enthusiasts in the Western world often confuse the terms "katana" (刀) and "nihonto" (日本刀) as being the same thing, that they are a traditional Japanese sword used by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The latter is more accurate, as "nihonto" literally translates to "Japanese sword". However, the word "katana" in Japan, simply means "sword", and it can refer to any type of sword like a European style sabre for instance. But it doesn't end there. Historically, there were many different types of "nihonto", like the ''tachi'' and ''nodachi'', and sword collectors often differentiate a [[EveryJapaneseSwordIsAKatana specific type of "katana"]] from those previously mentioned. This specific type is actually an "uchigatana" (打ち刀), which literally means "striking sword".

* In the Western world, the "katana" (刀) is recognized as a traditional Japanese sword used by the samurai class of feudal Japan. In Japan, the word "katana" simply means "sword", and it can refer to any type of sword like a European style sabre for instance. The "uchigatana" (打ち刀), which literally means "striking sword" is a more specific type of [[EveryJapaneseSwordIsAKatana Japanese sword that people are more accustomed to from popular culture and martial arts]].

* Sword collectors and enthusiasts sometimes get confused of the words "katana" (刀), "uchigatana" (打ち刀), and "nihonto" (日本刀) as all being the same thing, that they are traditional Japanese swords used by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The last one is accurate as "nihonto" literally means "Japanese sword". But the word "katana" means "sword", and it can refer to any type of sword like a European style sabre for instance. The "uchigatana" is a more specific type of [[EveryJapaneseSwordIsAKatana Japanese sword that people are more accustomed to from popular culture and martial arts]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Siren}}: Blood Curse'' Howard and Seigo can speak both English and Japanese, and Miyako can only speak Japanese. It's done really well with Seigo, who sounds like he's having trouble talking in English because it's not his native language. Justified because the game takes place in Japan.