Learning new vocabulary with Shimura Ken Jailbreak story

I watched Shimura Ken (志村 けん) the first time doing his Bakatono-Sama character. With a simple Japanese, still hard to understand his jokes, but luckily most of his videos were translated to Portuguese or English.

He passed away a few days ago, so I looked for some of his old videos to remember him. “Jailbreak” (脱獄物語) is a story about jailed Shimura. His daughter visits him in jail, and after the guard leaves, Drift Ken starts explaining to his daughter his escape plan.

He demands her to bring some material to help him escape, and that’s where the comedy begins. Shimura Ken plays with Japanese words with similar meaning. That’s a great way to learn new vocabulary.

He asks for a hacksaw first 金鋸 (かねのこ, kanenoko), which his daughter confuses with a baby turtle 亀の子 (かめのこ, kamenoko).

Next he asks for three items. The first item requested is powder 火薬 (かやく kayaku), but she brings instead a suppository blister pack 座薬 (ざやく zayaku).

The second item are matches マッチ (macchi), but when he asks she simply slaps his hand タッチ (tacchi). The final item he requests is a fuse 導火線 (どうかせん doukasen), which she heards as すいません (suimasen), which means sorry.

In his last attempt to escape with the help of his daughter, he asks her to bring a rasp やすり (yasuri). This time she does bring the right item, but just not the right type.

She brings a sandpaper sheet 紙やすり (紙やすり kamiyasuri).

Categories: Languages

Tags: Language, Japanese, Shimura Ken