Last Updated on 08/15/2022 by てんしょく飯
Japan is a popular travel destination for popular international celebrities, and some of them have fallen in love with the Japanese culture and are studying Japanese as a second or third language. Here is a list of celebrities who have studied Japanese.
Ariana Grande
Ariana is a well-known Japanophile who has been studying Japanese for many years and has a Japanese tattoo that reads “Nananaringu” (“Seven Rings”), a reference to her songs “Utaimasho” and “7 Rings”. Ariana was seriously considering moving to Japan in the future, but she was criticized by her overseas fans who laughed at her, saying that she was talking about “shichirin (seven rings),” and that her use of Japanese on her official goods constituted “Cultural Appropriation. He declared that he would stop studying Japanese.
*Cultural appropriation is one of the most frequently discussed topics in recent years, and refers to the adoption of cultural elements of a certain ethnic group by people who do not belong to that culture.
Meg Donnelly.
Meg, who starred in the Disney Channel movie “Zombies,” became friends with the Jr. EXILE from PROJECT TARO (*), an EXILE family member, when they came to Meg’s school as part of an exchange program, and she has been a talented member since then. They have been taking lessons from a teacher named Mr. Eguchi through Skype, and during the interview with the Front Row editorial staff, he said, “Long time no see, how are you?” and greeting in Japanese, she is at a level where she can actually carry on a conversation.
*This is a project jointly launched by EXIEL’s office LDH and Avex to nurture global artists who will be active on the world stage.
Brian May
Brian has been studying katakana for a long time, with an anecdote that he was taught katakana by John Deacon, who was a member of Queen. On Instagram, a Japanese fan asked, “Brian, genki desuka?” He also responded, “Hai! Desu! He also used katakana to answer the question.
Ever Anderson
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Ever Anderson, born to Milla Jovovich of “Resident Evil” fame and director Paul W.S. Anderson, is studying Japanese and showed her proficiency on her Instagram.
She also surprised her Japanese fans by playing and performing the song “Koi no Vacation” by The Peanuts.
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Tiffany Haddish
Comedic actor Tiffany Haddish is obsessed with Japanese melodramas. When she appeared on Ellen’s Room, she said, “I learned Japanese about eight years ago. I was in Japan doing a comedy for the (U.S.) military. That’s where I got really into melodrama. It is my dream to act in a Japanese melodrama in the future. I want to be the first black woman to appear in a Japanese melodrama,” she said, revealing her desire to enter the Japanese entertainment industry.
Natalie Portman
Natalie studied Japanese when she was in high school. When she previously attended the Japan premiere of the movie “Planetarium,” she greeted the audience in Japanese and showed off the Japanese she knew.
Darren Criss
Actor and musician Darren Criss, who got his break on the drama “Glee,” professed to be a fan of the Japanese romantic variety show “Terrace House. When he began living in quarantine due to the spread of the new coronavirus, he was studying Japanese every day and said, “I’m polishing my Japanese language skills. I study for 30 minutes every day,” she revealed to US Vulture.
Alicia Vikander
Alicia, who has longed for Japan since her teenage years by reading books such as Haruki Murakami, confessed to U.S. Reuters that she studied Japanese intensely for about three months while filming “Earthquakes Bird,” a suspense mystery movie that takes place in Tokyo.
Diplo
Diplo, a DJ who originally lived in Meguro, Tokyo, took advantage of the Corona disaster to study Japanese again. He took to Instagram to show how he is taking Japanese lessons online.
Saint West.
Saint counting in Japanese! 🥺👏🏽
“My baby speaks Japanese” – @KimKardashian pic.twitter.com/frhurJvyZR
— Kardashian Kids FanPage (@DASHKlDS) January 26, 2021
Saint, the second child of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, is studying Japanese, and Kim actually showed Saint counting numbers in Japanese on Instagram.
Selina Sharma.
Singer-songwriter Selina Sharma, who made her debut with the song “Lean On,” said, “I love Japanese. In fact, I studied Japanese when I was in high school. So I know basic words and stuff. I think Japanese pronunciation is cute,” she previously said.
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