Japanese Accent Query

[Johnny]

There's a specific Japanese accent I've heard both in anime and live-action stuff and just wanna know if anyone knows what area it's from i.e. is it a country accent or a thick accent etc?

It seems to be reserved for bad guys or older, mentor like good guys. The only example I can think off of hand is the voice of Hulk Davidson (the crocodile bad guy) in the Viewtufil Joe anime. It sounds like the letter "R" is rolled, the same way it could be done in English.

Anyone know what I'm on about? If I find more examples, I'll be sure to post them.

[lobato]

What you're describing sounds like thug/yakuza style Japanese. You can certainly hear this in gangster flicks and the like. Lots of rolled r's, lots of slang, lots of volume.

[TuxedoFred]

[ QUOTE ]
lobato said:
What you're describing sounds like thug/yakuza style Japanese. You can certainly hear this in gangster flicks and the like. Lots of rolled r's, lots of slang, lots of volume.

[/ QUOTE ]

You know, when I first started learning German, I couldn't roll my R's. A few years later and it was easy. Then when I started taking Japanese, I almost couldn't *not* roll my R's. After some effort, I've stopped, and now I find it extremely difficult to do. So you're telling me, after all this time, I could have just stuck with it (and sounded like a thug)?

[Johnny]

[ QUOTE ]
lobato said:
What you're describing sounds like thug/yakuza style Japanese. You can certainly hear this in gangster flicks and the like. Lots of rolled r's, lots of slang, lots of volume.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's what I kinda thought it would be given the characters it's usually heard on, but there are other characters (i.e. Aba Red's Tyranno dinosaur in Abaranger) that don't really fit the Yakuza description.

Still, thanks for clearing it up. It's a cool accent although I think it would probably get me in trouble in Japan talking like Yakuza /images/graemlins/tongue.gif