Turning Japanese


"Turning Japanese" is a song by English band the Vapors, from their 1980 album New Clear Days. It was an international hit, becoming the song for which the Vapors are best known.
The lyric describes the narrator being separated from a woman he loves and thus preoccupied with photos of her. The song prominently features an Oriental riff played on guitar.

Overview

Songwriter David Fenton explains: "Turning Japanese is all the clichés about angst and youth and turning into something you didn't expect to."
The band suspected they would score a hit with "Turning Japanese", even delaying its release in order to make it their second single, hoping to avoid becoming "one-hit wonders". Nonetheless, they never matched the single's success.
The song enjoyed some sales in Japan after its great success in Australia, where it spent two weeks at No. 1 during June 1980.
The music video was directed by Russell Mulcahy.

American pop culture misinterpretation

The repeated lyrical refrain of "I think I'm turning Japanese" was widely believed by Americans to describe an orgasm induced by masturbating, but actually was intended to describe teen angst or alienation after a romantic breakup. Both the song lyrics and the music video reference the singer being obsessed with photographs of his girl. At the time, Japanese tourists carrying cameras and taking photographs constantly was a well-known popular cliche.

Covers

recorded a cover, with an accompanying video filmed in Tokyo, Japan.
The song was featured on the soundtrack of the 1997 movie Beverly Hills Ninja covered by the band The Hazies.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Rank
Canada Top Singles 94