Major Japanese buzzword: “Setsuden” - Part 1

High-end shops in Ginza don’t normally plaster their windows with hastily photocopied announcements, but the photo above shows that a men’s shoe store that ritzy district has become one of countless Japanese businesses to jump on the “setusden” bandwagon.

“Setsuden” means “saving electricity.” The sign in the shoe shop window informs customers that the shop is lit more dimly than usual for the sake of conserving power. With many of Japan’s power plants shut down as a direct or indirect result of this spring’s earthquake and tsunami, “setsuden” has become this summer’s big buzzword.

The term is written with the pair of kanji characters at the top of the shoe shop’s sign. Take a moment to look carefully at those characters. If you live in Japan or plan to visit (and please do visit — our economy over here could use the help), you’re going to see these two characters everywhere.





For example, here is a sign at an entrance to the
Matsuya department store in Ginza, telling customers that the air conditioning has been turned down to save power. The message is printed on a background shaped like a hand-held paper fan, suggesting an alternative way to keep cool.

The fan’s lettering reads, “Kotoshi wa, setsuden o kangaeruu,” which means, “This year, we are thinking about saving electricity.” The last word is written in katakana phonetic characters to emphasize that it is a pun. ”Kangaeru” is the correct Japanese word for think, but here it has been slightly altered to make it sound more like “kangaruu,” which is the word for kangaroo.  And that’s why there is a kangaroo holding the fan — not just because it is cute.




The power hand driers in many public restrooms have been turned off to save electricity, such as this one I photographed at a shopping mall in the Tokyo suburb of Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture. Here, the two characters for “setsuden” are followed by a third character.

This simple-looking character is an extremely versatile one with many uses, but here it is pronounced “chuu” and means “in progress,” “under way,” or “in the middle of.” It is often used as a suffix to words that describe activities, so here it means something like “now conserving energy.” Walking around town, you’ll see the three characters for “setsuden-chuu” quite a lot.



For example, here we see “setsuden-chuu” on a
closed escalator at Yoga Station on the Denentoshi Line in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo.




And back at the Kawaguchi mall, here are two ”setsuden-chuu” signs, explaining why an advertising video screen and a beverage heater/cooler have been turned off.




Even fish are getting into the act, with these
specimens in the lobby of my sports club bragging that the light in their tank is from LEDs.




Here’s a Ginza dental clinic whose setsuden sign includes an anthropomorphic tooth mascot climing Tokyo Tower in King Kong style.

The McDonald’s at Korakuen subway station in Tokyo is displaying a setsuden sign that turns a lightbulb filament into its golden arches. I’m not sure this is such a good idea, because at first glance it seems to associate their logo with electricity use rather than savings. The word “setsuden” is not prominently displayed on this poster, but it’s there if you look.

Go to Part 2