Koborebanashi

Trivia, Tidbits and Tales about Japan

Category: Q&A/Trivia

  • TKG

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    Earlier today on the train, I heard two boys who looked to be of about junior high school age talking about TKG.

    So what, you might ask, is TKG?

    Well, it’s tamago-kake gohan, the T being tamago, K, kake, and G, gohan, which basically means ‘raw egg on rice’. It’s a Japanese dish eaten primarily for breakfast, and it is literally, as the name suggests, raw egg broken over hot rice, and quite often seasoned with soy sauce. It’s a great breakfast actually, and well worth a try if you ever get the chance. And if you get the chance to slip ‘TKG’ into a conversation while you’re in Japan, well, all the better!

  • Question: What is ‘Chappie’?

    Chappie is the Japanese nickname for the AI conversational service ChatGPT, created by adding the casual, affectionate ‘-pie’ to ‘chat’, effectively anthropomorphising the service. Calling ChatGPT ‘Chappie’ makes it seem cute, less a tool and more something (someone?) to have a conversation with or ask advice from.

    The name ‘Chappie’ is also an example of the cultural tendency in Japan to make things ‘cute’. Seen dispassionately, ChatGPT is nothing more than silicon, software, but the name makes it feel almost like a partner or a friend.

    In 2025, the nickname was even nominated for the ‘Buzzword of the Year’ award.

  • Question: What Do I Need To Know When Travelling By Local Train?

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    Trains are a great way to see the scenery of Japan, but they can quite often be busy and crowded, especially in urban areas. Bear in mind these guidelines to make travelling by train as stress-free as possible, both for you and your fellow passengers.

    Many of the guidelines for travelling by local train are the same as for travelling by Shinkansen, but there are a few differences. Anyway, here are some rules or guidelines you should be aware of.

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  • Crackballs!

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    If you’ve ever been to a bank or a convenience store in Japan, you might have noticed, tucked away behind the counter but still easily accessible (to the staff, that is), some orange balls. If you look more carefully, you’ll see that they’re actually clear balls filled with some sort of orange liquid. Any idea what they might be?

    Well, let me tell you. They’re actually to protect against crimes. They’re called ‘bohan colour balls’ (crime prevention colour balls), but I prefer the alternative (and far more attention-grabbing) ‘crackball’. Whatever the name, the idea is that staff can throw the balls at any criminals who are trying to escape.

    Good idea, but it raises one question (actually, several): do the staff actually practice throwing these balls? How do they learn to aim? What if they hit a completely innocent bystander? The whole ‘orange ball’ system just seems very prone to mistakes, let’s put it that way.

    I certainly wouldn’t have any confidence that I would be able to hit anyone who’d just stolen something from my shop or, worse still, from my bank… but maybe that’s just me.

    Footnote: It appears that people possibly do practice throwing the balls. There’s even a website (unfortunately only in Japanese, but then again, why would it be in any other language?) explaining everything you could ever want to know (and quite possibly more) about how to use the balls.