Tuesday, June 06, 2006

List of Japanese-sounding web services and tools

Between the Edgeios, Vyews and Hipcals of this world, there is also a considerable number of (non-Japanese) web services and tools sporting a brand name with a soft Japanese feel. An overview of the ones that have crossed the radar (including silly suggestions about what they might mean):

  • Awasu: comes from 合わす (according to their FAQ: "to join together, to unite, to combine, to connect, ...")
  • Hamachi: there's a はまち fish, as well as a 浜地 surname...
  • Oyogi: something to do with 泳ぎ ("swimming")? Probably not, as the (rather dead) site also mentions non-Japanese variants such as "yogis" and "Yog".
  • Hanzo:web: 半蔵 or 半増? Just kidding.
  • Mayomi: まよみ is a girls name.
  • Infogami: a clever combination of "info" and かみ, which means "paper".
  • Dōjō: 同上 ("ditto," "same as above"), 同情 ("compassion") or something else? You decide.
  • Mosuki: a difficult one. Maybe も好き ("I also like...")?
  • Shozu: possibly 小図 ("small graphic") or else, 小豆 ("red bean"), better known as azuki...
  • Yuku: 行く ("to go")? Or is it 逝く ("to pass away")?
  • Mojizu: according to the FAQ, moji stands for "character" (correct, except that character/文字 actually means "letter," not "comic figure," which is the site's theme). The -zu part is maybe 図 ("figure", "diagram").
  • And last but not least, Big in Japan, which has nothing to do with Japan, but everything with blogging tools.

Additions are welcome.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Awasu was new to me, but I immediately thought that it wouldn't be too far fetched to hear people pronounce it awazu. Which would kind of defeat the purpose of the name :)

And I always thought of Dōjō as 道場.

June 06, 2006 4:24 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Same here, when I first heard Dojo, I thought of 道場.

August 22, 2006 8:06 AM  

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