DANDISM FOR BEGINNERS
The Japanese are fond of using English slogans to market products.
So in Nagoya
- the home of Toyota, no doubt hours of brainstorming yielded the word
"dandism"
.
.
.and it was deemed cool.
Yes but what the heck does it mean? A quick bit of research revealed that it is actually derived from the word
"Dan"
(as in Judo) and refers to machoism or the traditional image of Japanese masculinity and patriarchy.
Such sayings don't easily translate across cultures, so you won't find this definition in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Whereas guys are walking around with a spring in their step in downtown Osaka cos they got
"Dandism" on their roof, my initial reaction was to cringe
- then I saw the funny side!
A MAN IN DANDISM, NEW RICH AND SPORTS
.
.
.and that's what it says on the mats.
Additionally, for the benefit of those in hot pursuit, some cars have a sticker in the rear window hailing this!
and this.
.
.
.
That sticker appeared on 1 in 10 Japanese market MR2s, and is often seen outside of Japan on grey market export vehicles.
The factory flaw mats on these cars say
"A man in dandism.
New rich
& sports.
"
The dandism isn't a corruption of
"dandy", i.e.
effeminate 17th century metrosexual type, it's a word coined by Toyota's marketing people which is supposed to mean
"tough" or
"macho", the
"dan" comes from the martial arts grading system, i.e.
"3rd Dan Black Belt".
