Japanese Shows with Exact Subs: The List of Honour
As many of you are painfully aware, most Japanese-language movies, TV dramas and animes still have no subs on the DVDs. Foreign/Hollywood movies dubbed into Japanese generally do have subs, but these are almost never exact dialogue transcripts (at least, I have never seen one), rather they are a rewording or a paraphrasing.
But why? I needed answers. So I went to my local video rental store, and asked to speak to the manager. (Names changed to protect the innocent). And I said to him, I said: “Mr Nakamura, Double-U. Tee. Eff. Why are the subs so often inexact or nonexistent?”. And Mr. Nakamura told me that the thinking in Japan’s movie industry has typically followed two distinct lines:
- Hearing-impaired people can go in the general direction of heck.
- Subtitles on foreign movies are not merely intended to repeat dialogue, but to convey, clarify and expound on dialogue — in other words, to pick up perceived slack in the audio translation.
Which is all well and good, but that kind of thing can tend to leave an avid learner like you or me…cold.
But there is hope! For there are some Japanese shows that do have exact Japanese subs; right down to the pauses and bridges (the equivalents of “um”). Here are the ones I know about from my pavement-pounding research (I seriously went in the flesh, because the information on the web was on the unreliable side).
- タイガー＆ドラゴン (plus the special extra episode「三枚起請の回」 — a 2-hour prequel that fills in a lot of details that are alluded to later in the show; it’s really essential to a full understanding of the series (and was in fact made before the rest of the series, rather than later like some kind of starwarsian afterthought), so I highly recommend getting it and watching it first).
- クロサギ (cool plot set-up, but the worst acting ever…even the subs couldn’t redeem this show for me)
- 女王の教室
- 電車男 (infinitely re-watchable dramedy geek love story..based on a supposedly true series of Internet forum posts)
- 3年B組金八先生 (exploitative, tearjerking Confucian propaganda at its worst (love and respect for the sensei), but…whatever)
- ドラゴン桜
- 救命病棟24時 第3シリーズ
- Drコトー診療所
- ウォーターボーイズ2005夏
- あずみ2 Death or Love
- 花より男子
- きみはペット
- 医龍~Team Medical Dragon~
- 恋におちたら ~ 僕の成功の秘密 ~
- プライド
- 渡る世間は鬼ばかり
- 輪舞曲
- 元カレ
- 8時だヨ！全員集合
- 8時だヨ！全員集合2005
- のだめカンタービレ
- タイヨウのうた
There it is. I am quite certain that these shows have exact subs — I checked every single one at my local video store. But, just to make even more sure, you might want to check with the vendor in question, especially since at least one major vendor (Amazon.jp) has a naughty habit of not listing any info at all about whether there are subs or not. So here is a sample email you might write them:
Subject: 【お願い】DVD字幕の有無を確認する／「Name of show」DVD-BOX
お世話になります。
「Name of SHOW」というDVDセットを購入しようとしていますが、
これは大事な教材になりますので、日本語字幕が必要不可欠。
そこで、お手数ですが、日本語字幕が収録されているかどうか確認して頂ければと思います。ご返事の程、宜しくお願いします。
[Your name]
Most Japanese dramas run for a single 10-12 episode season of 3 months; this makes it so the good shows end before ever jumping the shark, and the bad shows, well, end. Some shows do have sequel seasons, but this is rare. One thing to note is that just because one season of a show has subs, that doesn’t necessarily mean that any other seasons do. Very much a case-by-case thing.
Pricewise, buying a Japanese drama TV series box set will typically run you in the $120-$150 range, before shipping. In other words, the same price 2-3 normal university textbooks (or one chemistry textbook)…it is steep, but it’s worth it. If you can only buy one right now, buy Tiger & Dragon (タイガー＆ドラゴン); I love that show! It has a really cool plot structure that makes it very re-watchable. Infinitely rewatchable. I’m watching it right now — I often just loop the DVDs.
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Glenn said,
June 22, 2007 @ 2:16 pm
Now I realize why I hadn’t seen this post before: it’s new! ^^;; Thanks for the work you put into that. And on a side note, it’s interesting that so much care is taken in helping out blind people, but deaf people are left to fend for themselves. I wonder why that bias exists.
khatzumoto said,
June 22, 2007 @ 3:22 pm
Yeah, you’re right…Maybe the deaf people haven’t lobbied enough? Maybe people figure that Japan’s culture is “visual enough”? Dunno…Perhaps it’s easy to take it for granted that every country will automatically be as conscientious in all areas about people with disabilities as, say, the US is by law.
If nothing else, the gerontification of Japan might make adding good subs a commonplace thing.
Alec said,
June 22, 2007 @ 8:15 pm
By watching Japanese movies/dramas with Japanese subtitles, don’t you think one could become dependent on them and be practise reading rather than listening? I’m quite strong at reading but relatively poor at listening, so when I watch Japanese TV/movies, I try and make a point of ignoring the subtitles.
Mighty Matt said,
June 22, 2007 @ 8:31 pm
Ah, but Alec, for people who are just starting out on their journey down the path of Japanese the subtitles are an essential aid to working out what people are babbling about.
From what you say you’re obviously not a beginner so basic grammar/vocab is under your belt. Perhaps you could watch something with the subtitles the first time, to understand what’s going on, and then watch it subsequent times without them to force yourself to listen. Obviously turning on the subtitles to check anything.
Like any part of the journey, if you think you’re becomming dependent on any one part of the language (reading, listening etc) then focus on the others to let them catch up. The hardest path is the quickest path!!
khatzumoto said,
June 22, 2007 @ 8:32 pm
Hey Alec!
Hmmm…the answer to that is “nes”. No and yes.
First of all, Japanese learners who can read Japanese so well that they lust for subs? That isn’t the worst thing in the world.
Secondly, reading subs can be a great vocabulary-building exercise. I pick up words that I would have just slipped by because I could follow the conversation without knowing exactly what they mean; as with one’s native language, it’s easy to (almost subconsciously) infer a stray word. But subs force it to your conscious attention.
As long as the subs are in JAPANESE, I see no problem with it, because ultimately, it can only make your Japanese better. Knowing more words through parsing subs will reduce your need to look up words in the dictionary, and in turn reducing your dependence on subs. So, like the dictionary, subs may seem to bind, but in the end (used correctly), they set us free.
English subs, on the other hand…are the devil.
And, I know I’m repeating myself here, but so many foreigners in Japan are illiterate. Even what appeared to be a Korean girl I saw at immigration a couple of days ago couldn’t write kanji; filling in a form, she asked: “is romaji okay?”. For us non-Japanese to become a class of “super-literates” (more intimate with the Japanese writing system than typical people from Japan), then, can only be a step forward. Besides, if the worst comes to the worst, you can always ask someone to repeat, restate or clarify themselves in a conversation.
So don’t fear the subs (as long as they’re in Japanese). Don’t avert your eyes from the subs (as long as they’re in Japanese). Because if you can read Japanese subs, Alec, that is a WONDERFUL state to have reached.
khatzumoto said,
June 22, 2007 @ 8:50 pm
Two more points–(1) there are plenty of great shows that are subless. Like ハンドック (slang for “half-doctors (半ドック), i.e. medical interns) and both seasons of ごくせん(short for “極道の先生”, a yakuza heiress turned high school teacher with kung-fu skills and a heart of gold). Those are two of the best shows ever made. A rewarding challenge for anyone wanting to go subless…although I guess you could just turn off the DVD subs where they do exist.
(2) Subs provide a way to confirm that you heard what you think you heard. In a convo, it’s OK to misunderstand–that can be cleared up by confirmation. But when mining for sentences to enter into the SRS, unless you have absolute confidence (something you should avoid having too too much of all the time), you should get written confirmation that you indeed heard what you think you heard. Put another way, if what you heard is new enough to you that it warrants SRS entry…then it warrants confirmation by a third party of some kind.
Having said all that, Alec…your question about becoming text-dependent is interesting, because I hear from my friends that a lot of older people are complaining that the young generation “are accustomed to getting too much text confirmation (as on TV), and are not good at listening anymore”…But you know what? Older people as a group whine too freaking much sometimes. They’re never happy with what the young people are doing. Either they’re not reading enough and forgetting kanji, or they’re reading too much and becoming visual-centered bookworms. Which is it? It can’t be both!! Text is a good thing. Text clarifies. Text is “solid” in a way that audio isn’t. So, get off our backs, older people!!
Haha. Anyway, thanks for commenting, Alec. LoL, I hope you don’t feel flamed! Please feel free to comment any time.
Glenn said,
June 23, 2007 @ 12:22 am
One thing that I always have trouble with when listening is that when I hear a word I don’t know, didn’t quite catch, or am not very familiar with I spend time on that word and miss the ones that come after it. And if there are too many of them I’ll quit paying attention. Having something to look at helps focus that attention, and also allows me to pick up words that I wouldn’t have just from listening due to various reasons, including it being pronounced differently than I’m used to or mumbled (that seems to happen way to frequently with Japanese). Also, seeing a word written also gives clues to its meaning, as it’s not always what I would expect. It also cuts down on the guesswork and time that takes when listening (”which ‘chou’ is that, I wonder,” etc.) Not too much new information here, but I figured I’d share my experience for what it’s worth.
anders said,
June 23, 2007 @ 1:31 am
One great way to use exact Japanese subs is to go through them and add ALL sentences which contains words you don’t know to your SRS. I did this with the movie リリイ・シュシュのすべて. I does take some time though, (at least for me, at my current level of Japanese). I added around 400 sentences (~1600 total) when going through リリイ・シュシュのすべて, and it took me 15-20 hours (over a couple of days).
I’m also considering doing the same thing with タイガー＆ドラゴン. I watched it some time ago, with English subtitles (I was studying casually at the time, and didn’t know how “evil” they were), and it was one of the coolest shows I’ve ever seen. But it was very frustrating not being able to understand the stories fully in Japanese.
khatzumoto said,
June 23, 2007 @ 1:36 am
Yeah, タイガー＆ドラゴン has a huge vocabulary range, from the hippest modern youth slang, to words and phrases that are now archaic (in the classic rakugo stories), and everything in between. Maybe that’s part of its charm. I didn’t understand it fully until I saw it with J-subs, so I can understand your frustration. But like you said, it’s such a cool show..
Jim said,
June 23, 2007 @ 1:53 am
Wow Khatzumoto, you are a pro! That is a long list of Japanese shows.. I don’t suppose you can recommend any good Chinese shows / movies with accurate subs?
Are the subs always just displayed as images on the screen, or sometimes available as separate text that can be processed on the computer?
khatzumoto said,
June 23, 2007 @ 2:00 am
Hey Jim
DVD subs (as far as I know), are images.
Most Chinese shows come with Chinese subs (they are the rule, rather than the exception), assuming you buy a release intended for a Chinese audience, as opposed to, say, an American or Japanese release (sometimes, foreign releases come without Chinese subs…there are exceptions, but you need to be careful). Ebay is a good place to get Chinese shows. Check these out for starters (I don’t know that many Chinese shows yet! Haha…):
Moment In Peking
Chinese Paladin
Charles said,
June 23, 2007 @ 12:11 pm
Thanks Khatz!
You answered my question! I was planning on writing you about the woes of inaccurate subtitles. I’ve been using them with Japanese Audio American Movie DVDs. They are a great quiz to try to tie the audio together and to quiz myself on kanji, but don’t work so well for SRS entries. Thank you so much for the list. I’m heading to Tsutaya this afternoon!!
Glenn said,
June 27, 2007 @ 10:06 pm
I found a movie with exact subs sort of by accident. It’s called 日本沈没. It was made in 1973, so the special effects are pretty dated, but the story’s fairly interesting and the acting is pretty good.
I just rented タイガー＆ドラゴン today, so I’ll be checking that out in the following week.
John B said,
June 29, 2007 @ 4:27 pm
For what it’s worth, the copy of 結婚できない男 that I bought in Shanghai has exact Japanese subs. I assume that it was … uhm … borrowed from a Japanese version that had exact subs, and then just had Chinese subs slapped on as well, so that might be worth checking out. It’s a pretty cute sitcom.
Marshal said,
August 18, 2007 @ 8:03 pm
I took your advice. You can pick up the first couple seasons of Sopranos here in Japan for really cheap, and can watch it dubbed in Japanese with Japanese subtitles. Its sweet!
Nathanael said,
December 2, 2007 @ 3:59 am
Just as I was lamenting the lack of exact subtitles in the 新スター・トレック ボックスセット that I picked up last week, I stumbled on the U.S.S. Kyushu TOS/TNG Episode Guide where the some people to whom I am greatful have compiled exact transcripts of 37 of the 178(?) TNG episodes. Granted, it’s not all 178, but 37 episodes is still a lot of material.
Khatzumoto, thanks for all your work, publishing some of your thoughts on language learning, and maintaining this site!
mark said,
December 12, 2007 @ 10:44 am
Hi Khatz,
Another very useful article - thanks.
As you have mentioned elsewhere on this site, there is often a problem with (specifically) American movies in that the dubbed Japanese dialogue often doesn’t match the Japanese subtitles.
I have the Aliens 2 and a few of the Star Wars movies and this seems to be the case.
Do you, by any chance, know of any American TV drama series or movies where the dubbed Japanese and Japanese subtitles do match?
Any chance of a blog post on this??? I seem to remember that you have 24 - does that have matching J dubbed & J subs?
Thanks again for answering my questions…And apologies if I have missed a previous blog post on this
Mark
khatzumoto said,
December 13, 2007 @ 12:05 pm
@mark
>Do you, by any chance, know of any American TV drama series or movies where the dubbed Japanese and Japanese subtitles do match?
I have not so far come across any such show. The typical thinking thus far has been that the subtitles exist to explain the English dialogue, not to explain or transcribe the Japanese dialogue.
mark said,
December 15, 2007 @ 11:25 pm
Thanks for the answer, Khatz.
And I obviously get zero points for missing the words,’… but these are almost never exact dialogue transcripts (****at least, I have never seen one****)…’ in the 2nd paragraph of this article
doh!
Anyway, keep up the great work.
Mark