Shit or Hit: The Vapors - Turning Japanese

[fange]

"Turning Japanese" is a song released by English band The Vapors, from their album New Clear Days, and the song for which they are best known. The lyric consists mainly of the singer talking about pictures of his love. It prominently features an Oriental riff played on guitar.

Chart (1980) Peak position

Australia (Kent Music Report) 1
Canada Top Singles (RPM) 6
Ireland (IRMA) 4
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) 9
UK Singles (Official Charts Company) 3
US Billboard Hot 100 36
US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play 34

[Charlie O.]

Never liked it.

[fange]

Can you believe it went top10 in all those countries, Charlie, and probably quite a few more too...

[zoomboogity]

[Charlie O.]

Can you believe it went top10 in all those countries, Charlie, and probably quite a few more too...

It is inarguably catchy.

[trans-chigley express]

Hit. I don't love it but I like it and songs about masturbation appealed to my 12 year old self. Don't ask me to name another song by that band, I honestly don't think I ever heard one.

[Davey the Fat Boy]

I recall it affectionately.

Wonder how I’ll feel after I actually hear it again?

[fange]

They are the archetypal one-hit wonder band!
It's pretty much always annoyed me, especially the middle section, but...

Can you believe it went top10 in all those countries, Charlie, and probably quite a few more too...

It is inarguably catchy.

That's true; it has something, maybe several things, that caught the public's attention and had them buying the single and wanting to hear it on the radio. I'm fascinated by stuff like this.

[naughty boy]

Terrible

[The Modernist]

It's okay. They were from Woking weren't they?

[Lord Rother]

Likeably irritating. A song it’s ok to hear once every 5 years but no more than that.

(The song isn’t about masturbation.)

[Darkness_Fish]

Hit. I don't love it but I like it and songs about masturbation appealed to my 12 year old self. Don't ask me to name another song by that band, I honestly don't think I ever heard one.

I never thought it was actually about masturbation, isn't the 'turning japanese' more a slightly racist allusion to Japanese tourists need to take pictures of everything?

[NMB]

It's okay. They were from Woking weren't they?

Guildford.

[trans-chigley express]

Likeably irritating. A song it’s ok to hear once every 5 years but no more than that.

(The song isn’t about masturbation.)

What's it about?


"I've got your picture
Of me and you
You wrote "I love you"
I wrote "me too"
I sit there staring and there's nothing else to do

Oh it's in color
Your hair is brown
Your eyes are hazel
And soft as clouds
I often kiss you when there's no one else around

I've got your picture, I've got your picture
I'd like a million of you all 'round my cell
I want the doctor to take your picture
So I can look at you from inside as well
You've got me turning up and turning down, I'm turning in, I'm turning 'round

I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so"

sounds like he's wanking off to a photo of a girl but possible there's a double meaning I'm not aware of

[Lord Rother]

I heard someone from the band on radio a few weeks ago and he said the writer had no idea about the connotations with the phrase, it was just words that fit together well, building on an idea / sound they had in mind, and became a silly love song of sorts.

(Might have been the writer himself, can’t remember now, but I know it shot down a long-established background story, so the details stuck in my mind.)

[Darkness_Fish]

It's definitely the Japanese tourist/photo thing. It's never been any kind of British slang for masturbation.

[Rayge]

In my role as a mate of a slang lexicographer, I can confirm what DF says.
the record remains, however, a steaming pile of wank.
You can shove your Mod revival up your parka.

[Deebank]

It's okay. They were from Woking weren't they?

My old boss used to know them and he was from Sunbury (which I think is not a million miles away).

[Fonz]

Fun to play. Went down well at gigs.

Though it might not have been a slang term at the time I’m pretty sure it was about wanking. The cum face/vinegar strokes thing.

[Deebank]

Fun to play. Went down well at gigs.

Though it might not have been a slang term at the time I’m pretty sure it was about wanking. The cum face/vinegar strokes thing.

I hesitate to mention it but the phrase 'Grinning like a wanking jap' springs to mind.