The main conductor of Japanese words and concepts into the Russian language has undoubtedly become cinema. The second place in terms of distribution, perhaps, is occupied by Japanese cuisine, followed by Japanese art.
The Russian language, like many languages of the world, is extremely flexible and hospitable. He is sensitive to the changing times, to new hobbies of people. Each era, when Russia freely opened itself to the world, introduced foreign words into the lexicon of the Russian language, which easily took root and spread, like a viral infection - by airborne droplets. Therefore, it is even surprising that no more than twenty words have steadily penetrated from the Japanese language and Japanese culture into the Russian language. Perhaps this is due to the fact that Japanese words, in contrast to German, French or Greek, are not so easily transformed, taken root, and russified.
The words inscribed on the samurai sword
Thanks to American cinema, especially in the 70s of the last century, the world literally fell ill with the art of fighting - karate. The appearance on the screen of the incredibly technical Bruce Lee won the hearts of not only many men, but also women. Thus, cinema has introduced many warlike words into the Russian lexicon: ninja, kamikaze, harakiri, banzai, samurai, karate, taekwondo, tsunami. Perhaps now there is no longer a child who, in early childhood, would not play ninja turtles and did not try to hold a katana samurai sword in his hands.
When children-boys grow up to love the beautiful Japanese words they hear in the movies, some of them still have it. The only pity is that the essence of these words is not always clear to them. Therefore, sometimes on the streets of Russian cities you can see establishments with strange names: "Harakiri" - round-the-clock delivery of sushi and rolls, or "Geisha" beauty salon. Agree, the name that speaks of the art of ripping open the abdomen - the ritual suicide of the samurai - may somewhat alert a little more knowledgeable visitors. As well as a beauty salon, which thus, again thanks to cinema, reminds more of a certain frivolity of morals than of highly educated women who entertain men with singing, dancing and intellectual conversations on absolutely any topic.
Words of Peace and Harmony
Following the cinematography, the arts of traditional Japanese cuisine and home decoration penetrated into Russian culture. And together with them such peaceful words as: kimono - traditional Japanese clothing, and now also a certain cut of the sleeves of clothing; origami - the ancient art of folding rice paper figures for home decoration; ikebana - the traditional Japanese art of arranging and composing flower arrangements; sakura - Japanese cherry; tanka and haiku - genres of lyric poetry, which aspiring poets are often fond of; anime - characters of animated films designed for teenagers and adults; wasabi - a spicy seasoning for dishes, tempura - a dish of seafood, fish and vegetables cooked in batter; fugu is a dangerous and delicious fish delicacy, sake is Japanese vodka.
We owe many borrowed words to such sensei - teachers - as Kurosawa-san (san is a respectful prefix to the name), Keanu Reeves-san, Marlon Brando-san, Murakami-san, Chkhartishvili-san and other respected figures of culture and art who managed to captivate us with a strange and mysterious veil of Japanese romance and code of honor.
