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Event in Kyoto Celebrates Area’s “Culture of Unkindness”
How about some bubuzuke? A recent event in Kyoto tested people’s ability to pick up on the REAL meaning behind seemingly bland statements.
“How about some bubuzuke?”
Eating ochazuke (お茶漬け; bubuzuke in Kyoto dialect), a dish of tea poured over rice, is a traditional meal-ending palette-cleanser in Japan. In Kyoto, though, if a proprietor asks if you want bubuzuke, what they’re actually saying is, “Get the hell out.”
This is Kyoto’s so-called “culture of unkindness,” or ikezu-bunka (いけず文化) — and the subject of a recent sold-out event in the city that put people’s ability to read between the lines to the test.
For the citizens of Kyoto, ikezu-bunka consists of statements that contain an underlying meaning. As one resident puts it, telling someone, “That’s a nice kimono you’re wearing” might actually mean, “That kimono doesn’t suit you one bit.”
Even Japanese people might not pick up on these subtle digs, as visitors to Kyoto won’t typically get the same treatment as locals. People who’ve lived in Kyoto for years even say they might not pick up on the true meaning of a statement until someone calls them out on it.
One woman who moved to Kyoto 10 years ago told NHK, “You can get along here pretty well if you don’t think about…
