WHY DO THIS?
MONGOL800 is not the first Japanese band I have loved, and if my recent love for The Checkers says anything, it certainly won't be the last. It will, however, probably continue to be a band that I will always enjoy, which is why I've decided to spread the love a little.
It started, for me, in a dark Mom and Pop's snack (a snack is sort of the japanese equivalent for a local bar) where I was trying to stop the more lecherous of my companions from taking very drunken liberties. Not a glamorous or meaningful way to fall in love, but it happened anyway. The first song I heard, as indeed I believe it is with everyone, is Chiisana Koi no Uta. Most have heard it as the theme song to the drama Proposal Daisakusen. I, however, heard it first at a birthday party where we celebrated with the ever ubiquitous party activity, karaoke. Even as it was warbled into a million different keys by my fairly intoxicated Japanese friends, I was able to recognize its lyrical and melodic genius.
From there, I started looking for MONGOL800 albums. Strangely, the album that Chiisana Koi no Uta was on (Message or メセージ) would be the last one I would buy. My first Monpachi album was Momo (百々), and I listened to it in my car for about two months straight. It got to the point that even when I was a little tired of it, it felt lonely not listening to it. Then, I bought the album Daniel, and well... a crush turned into a full on love affair.
Unfortunately, I had no one outside my Japanese friends who could enjoy the music with me. I would always try to share, mostly by pointing out how beautiful the lyrics were, and then realize that my non-Japanese friends had no idea what had been said.
Hence, this project.
WHY CALL IT PROJECT MONPACHI?
Monpachi is the abbreviation of MONGOL800. Since the Japanese alphabet is not single letters, but instead specific sounds, they can't abbreviate in the way an English speaker can, though I'm not sure how we would abbreviate MONGOL800. Maybe M8?
But the the truth is, we wouldn't need to. MONGOL800 in English is only five syllables. In Japanese, however, it is a daunting seven!
Ok, maybe that doesn't really make much sense.
In any case, to abbreviate things that are two words, Japanese people tend to take the first syllable of each word and put them together. So, the "mon" in "monpachi" makes sense. But eight hundred in Japanese is "happyaku", so the question must be asked, why "pachi"?
Well, because 8 in Japanese is pronounced "hachi". Still doesn't quite make sense? Don't worry, there is one more step in this method of madness. Any time there is an "h" sound preceded by an consonant "n", it turns into a "p"!
So, Mon + hachi = Monpachi!
