Tale of Torii's Tongue Twister

This entry is dedicated to Sue in Canada.

The film Lost in Translation has aroused much interest in Japan. In fact, I have no doubt that it played a role in inspiring many JETs to come to Japan. I remember assisting newcomer ALTs at the Tokyo Hilton last summer and having dozens of excited people ask, "Is this the hotel where Lost in Translation was filmed?" (No, it was filmed at the nearby Hyatt.) Another popular question was, "Can you give me directions to the hotel with the bar from Lost in Translation? I wanna have a whiskey there."

I was already living in Japan when Lost in Translation was released, so I was aware Suntory Whiskey was a real beverage when I saw it on the big screen (okay, so I actually watched it on my not-so-big-screened TV to avoid the 1800 yen/$18 charge per ticket and the hassle of finding a willing babysitter, but "big screen" sounds better). However, many newcomers to Japan are understandably shocked to visit the grocery liquor store and find out the whiskey's a product that was brewed long before the movie ever came about. (In fact, it claims to be Japan's first true whiskey.) Because the film has so many fans, it is becoming a popular souvenir to take home.

You've probably already heard about how the Japanese founder of Bridgestone Tires came up with the name of his company by reversing the English translation of his name. (His last name was Ishibashi. Ishi = stone; bashi = bridge.) Well, Shinjiro Torii, founder of Suntory, did something perhaps even more creative. In Japanese, he was addressed as "Toriisan (Mr. Torii)". If you say this over and over like a hayakuchikotoba (tongue twister; lit., fast mouth words), it sounds like this: Toriisan-toriisan-torii-santorii-santorii. Give this "santorii" sound a more English-like spelling, and you have "Suntory." And now you have another useless piece of Japanese trivia in your head.