‘Jersey Shore’ in Japan: ‘Macaroni Rascals’

I love many things about Japan: schoolgirl fetishes, subway groping, panty vending machines, tentacle porn, and Hello Kitty. But all of that fades to the background with this revelation: “Jersey Shore” will be shown in the Land of the Rising Sun under the name “MTV Jersey Shore: the New Jersey Life of Macaroni Rascals.” CNN Go explains:

With the average Japanese cable TV viewer being totally ignorant of American geography, the name “Jersey Shore” needed an explanatory subtitle. So MTV Japan has decided on「MTV Jersey Shore〜マカロニ野郎のニュージャージー・ライフ〜」, translated by us as “MTV Jersey Shore — the New Jersey life of macaroni rascals.”

Macaroni rascals? What? Our only guess is that the folks at MTV were looking for a way to translate the Italian-American epithet ‘guido’ and stumbled upon something more Japanese but equally un-PC. Since this is a family website, we translated ‘yaro’ (野郎) as ‘rascals’ but the pejorative word can take on much more R-rated nuances.

What are those “R-rated nuances,” you ask? Well, let’s just say that my Irish grandfather is no longer the only one calling Italians “macaroni assh-les.”

In response, a spokesman for the National Institute of Cheap Italian Stereotypes said, “Ay! Why you make-a fun? Mamma work-a so hard on that macaroni! You wanna break-a you mamma’s heart?”