How common is sarcasm / a sarcastic tone in Japanese (chat)?

4 comments

1. I think your comment is perfectly fine, but in general Japanese is not really good with subtle sarcasm, like let’s say English. Oftentimes people will take what you say at face value. People in Osaka and Kyoto can be especially mean/direct/sarcastic, but it’s not common in general.

2. In my limited experience, dry sarcasm doesn’t tend to work like it does in English and I’ve spent most of my time in Hyogo. Though I would not go as far as to say it never works, I think it depends on how well they know you, what their personality is, and how you phrase it.

   If they know you to be a sarcastic person, then it’s more likely to be read as such. Perhaps it may be better if you phrase it in a way that can still be dry but come off as sarcastic because the context makes it obvious that you aren’t serious.

   So in this case, instead of saying ‘do you think this is enough?’, it may be preferable say something like ‘I don’t think this is enough’, or ‘I should buy more, huh?’ instead.

   Just my two cents!

3. At such situations, some Japanese will probably ボケる to get their friends to ツッコむ/ツッコミをする, rather than being sarcastic.

   これで足りるのか、めちゃ不安で夜しか寝られないわ…

   I can only sleep at night because I’m really anxious if this is enough…

   The お好みソース in the photo is huge, so everyone can see it’s enough and you are not actually anxious about it.

   Also, 夜しか寝られない/can only sleep at night is a normal thing.

   If it were 夜も寝られない/can’t even sleep at night, it would be a serious problem.

   So, 夜しか寝られない is an obviously funny word play.

   ボケる is to say something that wouldn’t actually happen in a particular situation, or to make a simple joke.

   Then, the listener should ツッコむ/ツッコミをする after listening to someone doing ボケ.

   ツッコミ is like replying to the ボケ with “なんでやねん！/No way!” or something.

   Or saying いや、どう見ても足りるやろ😂 ていうか一年分くらいあるやろ😂. / “Hey, you obviously have enough 😂 I mean, enough for a year 😂”.

   What to say depends on the person.

4. Yes, what you described is also used in the Japanese language. When we see X, many Japanese people use that kind of irony/sarcasm.

   However, sarcasm and irony can only be fully understood, or you can understand them, if your Japanese skills are really strong.

   As an other has mentioned, “夜しか寝られない” is a common joke with a sarcastic tone.
   When we witness a strange and rare event that has already happened, we might say “it can never happen” (そうはならんやろ), and some would respond with “it already has” (なっとるやろがい), for example. The example you mentioned in your post is common among Japanese speakers.

   Additionally, we use sarcasm and irony quite differently from Western people, so sometimes they don’t pick up on our nuances. Personally, I usually avoid using sarcasm, irony, or even puns with non-native speakers of Japanese.

   Sometimes I jokingly say, “Japanese people not understanding sarcasm reflects your proficiency in Japanese quite well :)”