Pixar’s “Up” became カールじいさんの空飛ぶ家, or “Old Man Carl’s Flying House”
The most recent Little Women was ストーリー・オブ・マイライフ
Train to Busan becoming 新感染 is an all timer.
I was impressed that they gave the green light to シリアナ as the Japanese title for Syriana
Frozen -> アナと雪の女王 (Anna and the Snow Queen)
**Napoleon Dynamite → Bus Man**
**You Only Live Twice → 007 Dies Twice**
**Karate Kid → Best Kid**
**Ferris Bueller’s Day Off → Ferris, Suddenly One Morning**
**Ratatouille → Remy’s Delicious Restaurant**
**Up → Grandpa Carl’s Flying House**
I like the generic term for what in the US are called ‘spaghetti’ westerns: マカロニウェスタン.
What About Bob? -> おつむてんてんクリニック
Also an amazing movie, if you haven’t seen it.
The best story of a name change is First Blood, which was changed to Rambo, a pun on 乱暴, or violence. The American side were impressed by the impact of the character’s surname as the film title, they used that for the sequels, rather than First Blood II or even Second Blood.
I find it funny that “Saw” and “Thor” both would be ソー so the latter had to become マイティ・ソー Mighty Thor
If im correct, Bring it on is Cheers!
Indiana Jones → インディージョーンズ
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA = GHOST CHASERS comes to mind. There are many examples of unusual titles given to Hollywood movies here.
Steve Martin’s classic “The Jerk” is “The Man who fell from Heaven” (天国から落ちた男).
Dumb & Dumber = Jim Carrey is Mr. Dumber
Kind of the reverse, but Shimotsuma Monogatari being called Kamikaze Girls in English. I tried to search it (in English) back in 2017 when I first visited Japan, and was shocked at the search results. NOT what I was looking for 🤭
I recently noticed the Japanese title for the drama series “The bear” became “一流シェフのファミリーレストラン” which I thought was kinda funny. For some reason Japanese titles (even for Japanese movies/dramas, not only foreign ones) always have to be excessively long and be a literal description of the plot of the movie, rather than the western style of often having it be some ambiguous/mysterious word or two and after you watch the movie/series then you finally kind of understand the hidden or deeper meaning of the title.
Almost seems like whoever creates Japanese movie titles thinks Japanese viewers are too stupid to be able to like think deeply and need everything spelled out exactly for them. That’s what my husband always complains about too. He likes the original titles that actually often have some hidden or deeper meaning.
I’m proud to present “史上最悪のボートレース ウハウハザブーン (Worst Boat Race Ever -Uha Uha Sploosh-)”, originally titled Up The Creek.
I like how all the Steven Seagal movies start with 沈黙の〜
Anchorman is 僕たちニュースキャスター
Hot Tub Time Machine: お風呂でGO!!!!!タイムマシンはジェット式 (yes it has 5 exclamation points)
Pineapple Express: Smoking High
I also have endless arguments with my husband that the luck dragon in Neverending Story is Falcor, not Falcon
I was so confused when I saw The Fault in Our Stars advertised as きっと、星のせいじゃない here…
“Darkest Hour” —> “Winston Churchill: The Man Who Saved The World From Hitler”
Snakes on a Plane: “Suneeku Furaito.” Perfect double-entendre.
Sixth Sense was “自分が死んだことを知らなかい心理学者の大冒険” or maybe not….
The obvious one is Lost In Translation, which was ロスト・イン・トランスレーション, a title with zero meaning. Very well conceived!
Another which delighted me was the title for Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck: エイミー、エイミー、エイミー! こじらせシングルライフの抜け出し方
The Mighty Ducks = 飛べないアヒル
the emperor’s new groove becomes Llama king,
I enjoyed how Hot Fuzz became “Hot Fuzz-We are Super Policemen! -“.
My favorites:
Zoltan Aliens “Dude, Where’s My Car?”
Tonari no Seinfeld “Seinfeld” (is the show being told from the perspective of Kramer?)
Prison Freak “Let’s Go to Prison” (trying to coast on the popularity of Prison Break)
26世紀青年 “Idiocracy” (trying to piggyback on the success of the movie version of the comic “20th Century Boys”)
Thinking about older movies which are all I know these days lol:
Basic instinct – ice smile
Sister act -singing love songs to angels
And the all-time greatest:
Being John Malkovich -Malkovich’s hole
Hot Tub Time Machine as オフロでGO!!!!!
Lady and the Tramp = Wan Wan Monogatari
One of my all time translation faves: Miss Congeniality becomes デンジャラス・ビューティー
Legally Blonde being キューティ・ブロンド is rage inducing.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is “Twilight Gunman Pt II.” (続・夕陽のガンマン）.
“Snow Falling on Cedars” becaming “Snow Falling on Himalayan Cedars” (ヒマラヤ杉に降る雪) was funny since the movie has nothing to do with Tibet. The novel’s translation also sucked, because the title just became 殺人容疑 which means Murder Suspicion.
The Brendan Fraiser Mummy series became Hamunaptra, which was fine, until the third movie happened in China but was still called Hamunaptra 3.
41 comments
Tintin is タンタン. I wonder why
“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” became “明日に向って撃て!” It’s the best Japanese title I’ve ever seen.
She’s the Man – American Peach Pie
Captain Supermarket for Army of Darkness is my favorite
Dead Poets Society is 今を生きよう, Live for now, or another translation of “carpe diem”
The Shawshank Redemption is ショーシャンクの空に、 “To the skies of Shawshank”
Wreck-It-Ralph was “Sugar Rush” in Japan, IIRC.
Remember the Titans = タイタンズを忘れない
Napoleon Dynamite = バス男
The Italian Job = ミニミニ大作戦
The Karate Kid (all versions) = ベスト・キッド
Here is a site with a long list:
https://honkienglish.com/titles/
[somebody killed her husband ’78](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078294/) got locally released as “シャレード’79”. With very different cover art, too.
Pixar’s “Up” became カールじいさんの空飛ぶ家, or “Old Man Carl’s Flying House”
The most recent Little Women was ストーリー・オブ・マイライフ
Train to Busan becoming 新感染 is an all timer.
I was impressed that they gave the green light to シリアナ as the Japanese title for Syriana
Frozen -> アナと雪の女王 (Anna and the Snow Queen)
**Napoleon Dynamite → Bus Man**
**You Only Live Twice → 007 Dies Twice**
**Karate Kid → Best Kid**
**Ferris Bueller’s Day Off → Ferris, Suddenly One Morning**
**Ratatouille → Remy’s Delicious Restaurant**
**Up → Grandpa Carl’s Flying House**
I like the generic term for what in the US are called ‘spaghetti’ westerns: マカロニウェスタン.
What About Bob? -> おつむてんてんクリニック
Also an amazing movie, if you haven’t seen it.
The best story of a name change is First Blood, which was changed to Rambo, a pun on 乱暴, or violence. The American side were impressed by the impact of the character’s surname as the film title, they used that for the sequels, rather than First Blood II or even Second Blood.
I find it funny that “Saw” and “Thor” both would be ソー so the latter had to become マイティ・ソー Mighty Thor
If im correct, Bring it on is Cheers!
Indiana Jones → インディージョーンズ
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA = GHOST CHASERS comes to mind. There are many examples of unusual titles given to Hollywood movies here.
Steve Martin’s classic “The Jerk” is “The Man who fell from Heaven” (天国から落ちた男).
Dumb & Dumber = Jim Carrey is Mr. Dumber
Kind of the reverse, but Shimotsuma Monogatari being called Kamikaze Girls in English. I tried to search it (in English) back in 2017 when I first visited Japan, and was shocked at the search results. NOT what I was looking for 🤭
I recently noticed the Japanese title for the drama series “The bear” became “一流シェフのファミリーレストラン” which I thought was kinda funny. For some reason Japanese titles (even for Japanese movies/dramas, not only foreign ones) always have to be excessively long and be a literal description of the plot of the movie, rather than the western style of often having it be some ambiguous/mysterious word or two and after you watch the movie/series then you finally kind of understand the hidden or deeper meaning of the title.
Almost seems like whoever creates Japanese movie titles thinks Japanese viewers are too stupid to be able to like think deeply and need everything spelled out exactly for them. That’s what my husband always complains about too. He likes the original titles that actually often have some hidden or deeper meaning.
I’m proud to present “史上最悪のボートレース ウハウハザブーン (Worst Boat Race Ever -Uha Uha Sploosh-)”, originally titled Up The Creek.
I like how all the Steven Seagal movies start with 沈黙の〜
Anchorman is 僕たちニュースキャスター
Hot Tub Time Machine: お風呂でGO!!!!!タイムマシンはジェット式 (yes it has 5 exclamation points)
Pineapple Express: Smoking High
I also have endless arguments with my husband that the luck dragon in Neverending Story is Falcor, not Falcon
I was so confused when I saw The Fault in Our Stars advertised as きっと、星のせいじゃない here…
“Darkest Hour” —> “Winston Churchill: The Man Who Saved The World From Hitler”
Snakes on a Plane: “Suneeku Furaito.” Perfect double-entendre.
Sixth Sense was “自分が死んだことを知らなかい心理学者の大冒険” or maybe not….
The obvious one is Lost In Translation, which was ロスト・イン・トランスレーション, a title with zero meaning. Very well conceived!
Another which delighted me was the title for Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck: エイミー、エイミー、エイミー! こじらせシングルライフの抜け出し方
The Mighty Ducks = 飛べないアヒル
the emperor’s new groove becomes Llama king,
I enjoyed how Hot Fuzz became “Hot Fuzz-We are Super Policemen! -“.
My favorites:
Zoltan Aliens “Dude, Where’s My Car?”
Tonari no Seinfeld “Seinfeld” (is the show being told from the perspective of Kramer?)
Prison Freak “Let’s Go to Prison” (trying to coast on the popularity of Prison Break)
26世紀青年 “Idiocracy” (trying to piggyback on the success of the movie version of the comic “20th Century Boys”)
Thinking about older movies which are all I know these days lol:
Basic instinct – ice smile
Sister act -singing love songs to angels
And the all-time greatest:
Being John Malkovich -Malkovich’s hole
Hot Tub Time Machine as オフロでGO!!!!!
Lady and the Tramp = Wan Wan Monogatari
One of my all time translation faves: Miss Congeniality becomes デンジャラス・ビューティー
Legally Blonde being キューティ・ブロンド is rage inducing.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is “Twilight Gunman Pt II.” (続・夕陽のガンマン）.
“Snow Falling on Cedars” becaming “Snow Falling on Himalayan Cedars” (ヒマラヤ杉に降る雪) was funny since the movie has nothing to do with Tibet. The novel’s translation also sucked, because the title just became 殺人容疑 which means Murder Suspicion.
The Brendan Fraiser Mummy series became Hamunaptra, which was fine, until the third movie happened in China but was still called Hamunaptra 3.