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Definition: A child who is shocked by the sight of foreigners, staring at them in amazement and sometimes becoming frozen to the spot.

Example sentence: “Most kids in Kyoto are used to seeing foreigners all the time so they don’t bat an eyelid. If you go to Kagoshima though, it’s a different story - they’re all Gameboy Droppers down there.”

Related expressions: Adult Gameboy Dropper (noun) - The same as a Gameboy Dropper, but older and less likely to drop whatever they’re holding.

Explanation: Because they live in such a racially-homogenous country kids in Japan are used to seeing only Japanese people around them, especially since most of them have never been overseas and rarely see foreigners on TV. As a result they’re often visibly shocked when they see a foreigner, their amazement manifested in stares, paralysis or remarks to their parents.

The expression Gameboy Dropper comes from a story my friend Nick Clapham told me about an experience he had on the Osaka loopline a few years back. He was standing opposite a little girl who was quietly sitting playing her Gameboy, totally engrossed in a game. After a few minutes the girl looked up, glanced at him and then did a double-take. Her jaw fell open in amazement at the sight of a blond-haired, blue-eyed gaijin and, as she continued to stare at him, she became so mesmerized that she lost her grip on the Gameboy and it fell onto the floor.

Ever since then Nick has been using the expression Gameboy Dropper to refer to kids who stare at him or other foreigners and often (in his own trademark style) shouts “don’t drop your Gameboy!” at them, further enhancing their bewilderment. The aptness of the expression Gameboy Dropper in describing the reaction of some Japanese kids to foreigners has made it a firm favourite among people I know, especially since foreigners encounter Gameboy Droppers all the time in their daily lives in Japan.

Shichi Go San (7,5,3) - the annual Gameboy Droppers convention - is held at shrines throughout Japan in November

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 27th, 2007 at 4:05 am and is filed under Uncategorized, Articles in English, English Language and Western Culture, My Favourite Slang. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.