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, , is a
Japanese language is the principal language of the Japonic languages, Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people. It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language, and within the Japanese dia ...
phrase meaning "it cannot be helped" or "nothing can be done about it". , is an alternative.


Cultural associations

It has been used to describe the ability of the Japanese people to maintain dignity in the face of an unavoidable tragedy or injustice, particularly when the circumstances are beyond their control, somewhat similar to " c'est la vie" in French or "it is what it is" in English. Historically, it has been applied to situations which masses of Japanese people as a whole have been made to endure during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, including the Allied
occupation of Japan Japan was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II from the surrender of the Empire of Japan on September 2, 1945, at the war's end until the Treaty of San Francisco took effect on April 28, 1952. The occupation, led by the ...
and the
internment of Japanese Americans United States home front during World War II, During World War II, the United States forcibly relocated and Internment, incarcerated about 120,000 people of Japanese Americans, Japanese descent in ten #Terminology debate, concentration camps opera ...
and
Japanese Canadians are Canadian citizens of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Canadians are mostly concentrated in Western Canada, especially in the province of British Columbia, which hosts the largest Japanese community in the country with the majority of them living ...
. In ''Asian American Women: The "Frontiers" Reader'', author Debbie Storrs states:
The Japanese phrase ''shikata ga nai'', or "it can't be helped," indicates cultural norms over which one has little control... This notion of suffering in part stems from ''shikata ga nai'': failing to follow cultural norms and social conventions led to a life of little choice but endurance of suffering.
The phrase also can have negative connotations, as some may perceive the lack of reaction to adversity as complacence, both to social and political forces. In a ''
Business Week ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...
'' article, a Western businessman says of Japanese people:
He encourages Japanese not to succumb to the ''shikata ga nai'' mentality but to get angry and start behaving like citizens. 'Japanese people listen to me because I'm always pushing what the possibilities are and how things can change... to ensure positive economic and political prospects...'


Non-Japanese literary references

The phrase appears as an important theme in a range of books relating to major events in the history of the Japanese people. Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston's ''
Farewell to Manzanar ''Farewell to Manzanar'' is a memoir published in 1973 by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston. The book describes the experiences of Jeanne Wakatsuki and her family before, during, and following their relocation to the Manzanar inter ...
'' devoted a chapter to the concept to explain why the Japanese Americans
interned Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...
in the US during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
did not put up more of a struggle against the restrictive conditions and policies put upon them. The historical
manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
'' Barefoot Gen'' shows many of the citizens in
Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...
using the phrase "Shikata ga nai" to explain why they accept the military rule, and the acceptance of the below-poverty conditions that cause many of their citizens to starve. Similarly,
John Hersey John Richard Hersey (June 17, 1914 – March 24, 1993) was an American writer and journalist. He is considered one of the earliest practitioners of the so-called New Journalism, in which storytelling techniques of fiction are adapted to no ...
's ''
Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...
'' applies the phrase after efforts to assist fatally injured ''
hibakusha ' ( or ; or ; or ) is a word of Japanese origin generally designating the people affected by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States at the end of World War II. Definition The word is Japanese, originally written i ...
'' ceased.
James Clavell James Clavell (born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell; 10 October 1921 – 7 September 1994) was a British and American writer, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war. Clavell is best known for his ''Asian Saga'' nov ...
used the phrase in his novel ''Shōgun''. The Japanese characters explain it to the westerner who comes to see its wisdom. The phrase is also introduced or explained by Japanese or Japanese-American characters in books such as
David Guterson David Guterson ( ; born May 4, 1956) is an List of American novelists, American novelist, short story writer, poet, journalist, and essayist. He is best known as the author of the bestselling Internment of Japanese Americans, Japanese American ...
's '' Snow Falling on Cedars''. In the book ''The Hostile Beaches'' by Gordon D. Shirreffs, the character Lieutenant Carney says the phrase. When asked what it means, he says it means "Let's get to work", not knowing its actual meaning. Later, Bob Dunbar says the words to confuse searching Japanese soldiers. The Japan commentator Willard Price often made reference to the term in his dealings with the Japanese in the 1930s and 1940s.
Kim Stanley Robinson Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American science fiction writer best known for his ''Mars'' trilogy. Many of his novels and stories have ecological, cultural, and political themes and feature scientists as heroes. Robinson has ...
also includes the phrase in his book '' Red Mars''. The phrase is spoken by Hiroko early on in the Mars colonization: "It was Hiroko who cut Arkady off, with what she said was a Japanese commonplace: 'Shikata ga nai,' meaning there is no choice" (100). Throughout the book, the phrase is a motif used when the characters have an unavoidable obligation or path. Pt 8, the final chapter of the book, is also called ''Shikata ga nai''. The phrase also appears in James S. A. Corey's series '' The Expanse'' as a phrase commonly used by Belters, multi-cultural residents of the asteroid belt.


Other references

The phrase has been adopted by the Metasploit computer penetration framework as the name of a shellcode encoder. It uses polymorphic
XOR Exclusive or, exclusive disjunction, exclusive alternation, logical non-equivalence, or logical inequality is a logical operator whose negation is the logical biconditional. With two inputs, XOR is true if and only if the inputs differ (one ...
additive feedback to ensure that the output of the "Shikata ga nai" encoder is different every time. As such antivirus products have no chance of detecting the malicious code by using a known blacklist. "Shoganai" is a track on
King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...
's 2002 mini-album ''
Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With ''Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With'' (stylized in lowercase) is the third Extended play, EP by the band King Crimson released in 2002, a companion to the subsequent album ''The Power to Believe'' (2003). Many of the songs on ''Happy With ...
''. "Shikata Ga Nai" is a track on
Van der Graaf Generator Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester by singer-songwriters Peter Hammill and Judge Smith, Chris Judge Smith. They were the first act signed by Charisma Records. They did not experience much ...
's 2016 album '' Do Not Disturb''. The phrase appears in the lyrics of the song ''Kantori Ongaku'' by Devendra Banhart, and also in the song ''Acheron'' by
DIIV DIIV (pronounced and formerly known as Dive) is an American Rock music, rock band from Brooklyn, New York City, formed in 2011. The band consists of Zachary Cole Smith (vocals, guitar), Andrew Bailey (guitar), Colin Caulfield (bass, keyboards, gu ...
.


Other languages

*Similar sayings exist in China, 没办法 (méi bàn fǎ), and Korea, 어쩔 수 없다 (eojjeol su eopda), which is used in similar situations as "shō ga nai". *The French saying c'est la vie has a comparable meaning. *The Spanish phrase "Ni modo" is somewhat similar. * in Hebrew the same idea is "Ze ma yesh" זה מה יש. lit. this (is) what there is


See also

* Thought-terminating cliché *
Defeatism Defeatism is the acceptance of defeat without struggle, often with negative connotations. It can be linked to pessimism in psychology, and may sometimes be used synonymously with fatalism or determinism. In politics, defeatism is used for one's p ...
* Russian avos'


References


Further reading

*{{cite journal , title=Shikata Ga Nai , date=October 8, 1945 , journal=
Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...
, url=http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,776254,00.html , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310190734/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,776254,00.html , archivedate=March 10, 2007 , url-status=dead , accessdate=November 3, 2014 Destiny Internment of Japanese Americans Japanese words and phrases Words and phrases with no direct English translation