Japanese Magic Bottle
By thomas on Apr 15, 2008 in Japanese
In the summer of last year, my wife told me (in Japanese) “We need to buy a magic bottle.”
“A what?”
“A magic bottle.”
“What on earth is a magic bottle? and why do we need to buy one?”
Magic Bottle
The word in question here is 魔法瓶 (mahou-bin). The first part 魔法 (mahou) means “magic”, as in Harry Potter magic. The second part 瓶 (bin) means “bottle”. What is a magic bottle? Simple, a thermos.
A Thermos?
Yup, the good old vacuum flask invented by James Dewar in 1892 – the one that keeps hot liquids hot all day long – is known as a “magic bottle” in Japanese.
Why is it called “magic bottle”? Are the Japanese superstitious? Turns out it’s just a bit of marketing. The thermos was introduced to Japan in 1909. Two years later, an Osaka company produced a domestic version and called it “magic bottle”, but they forgot (or just didn’t want to) to register the trademark. The name stuck and now any old thermos is known as a 魔法瓶 (mahou-bin). (Source: wikipedia japan).
Pretty cool huh? Btw, the reason my wife wanted one is that we had a baby on the way. A thermos is a good way to carry around hot water for making baby formula on the go. Ours has a picture of Miffy on it, and is Thermos brand :)
Related posts:
- Koinobori – Japanese Carp Streamers
- I am starting to learn Japanese, not for fluency, but for travel.
- Japanese Snowmen
- Chapter 5 – Japanese Giants
- Japanese and Swedish Peek-a-boo
Interesting! I thought this story was going to involve genies in it, wishes of orphans, or Harry Potter slaying a dragon… but NO!!!!
Mike | Apr 15, 2008 | Reply
Cool! And I love Miffy!!!!
typicalquirk | May 14, 2008 | Reply
ohhhhh Miffy :)
btw Miffy is NOT Japanese but Dutch
ralph | May 14, 2008 | Reply
You know I just don’t like miffy!
Jason | Jul 2, 2008 | Reply
Hey! I´ve got that bottle ¬¬U and I just LOVE IT
It saved my live plenty of times!!!
Hitomi | Nov 23, 2008 | Reply
I have never heard the Japanese call it a magic bottle before. Although, it would not surprise me if one of them did refer to it as a magic bottle.
freedomwv | Dec 26, 2008 | Reply
Cool!
Sounds like the same thing as when English speakers call a tissue a “kleenex” or a photocopy a “xerox”, for example.
Of course, “magic bottle” is MUCH cooler sounding than the above two lexicalized brand names.
Kevin | Dec 29, 2008 | Reply
My wife, also japanese, does not like them at all. But also calls them magic bottle ;)
eldritch | Feb 8, 2009 | Reply
I remember my lunch box and thermus as a kid, kinda makes me want to get another one.
japanese words | Mar 4, 2009 | Reply
The inventor’s name is James Dewar, not Dewer. nerd facts FYI: The original thermos was made of a sealed doubled layered glass which is in near vacuum. the vacuum combined with a reflecting shield (such as aluminum) combined limits heat transfer, and radiation escape respectively. nowadays more modern thermos flasks are made of doubled layered steel, which obviously makes them much more durable than glass counterparts.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewar_flask
But the real reason why i remember this so clearly was from the Akira manga (hai, otaku desu), where they used dewar flasks containers, but much bigger ones, for other purposes than containing hot water.
anyway… wow.. i can’t believe i wasted 5 minutes to make a comment on such a trivial error, especially because i just happened to stumble upon this rather anonymous blog. Besides, since this post is old, nobody would notice this, and i wouldn’t care to know if anyone do either.
James DewAr | Apr 17, 2009 | Reply
@James DewAr: fixed! Thanks! btw, this post actually gets its fair share of stumble traffic, so I wouldn’t be surprised if some people do notice your comment :)
thomas | Apr 17, 2009 | Reply
My “Thermos” is glass (green on the outside) with a white clamp-on top. The bottom says, among other information, that it was made on November 14, 1922 by Aladdin Industries in Chicago. It is in a black box with a handle on top. Hmmm… Aladdin and Magic Bottle. Anyway, I think it’s cool.
Rhonda | Dec 9, 2009 | Reply
I noticed it! Thomas, for my beloved and Miffy-mad wife: where does one get this Miffy thermos?
Philip Watling | Feb 17, 2011 | Reply