Case 01. Category failure on file: weather forecast → song.
Mashikashibashimeマシカシバシメ
Designated emotion: curious, warm, a little uncanny, and unlicensed
Official interpretation, version 1.0. Issued by the Interpretation Promotion Office, feat. the Weather Forecast Language Section.
Each of our products comes with an official interpretation. This is the first.
The album opens with a weather forecast. This is not a figure of speech, and we ask that it not be received as one. The verses are four sentences of bulletin Japanese for the Okinawa region: rain and thunderstorms from warm, moist air; heavy rain on and off all day tomorrow; a high of thirty and a low of twenty-six; strong wind and high waves on the coast. The Weather Forecast Language Section, which translated marine bulletins for shipping clients from 1994 to 2013 and has been reinstated for this case, confirms that every sentence is in order. It is the most impersonal Japanese there is.
After each sentence the bulletin slips, and a refrain of five phrases answers it, beginning マシカシバシメー. It has the vowels, mora rhythm and melody of Japanese, and no dictionary lists a word of it. The singer delivers it with the composure used for tomorrow's rainfall, nobody in the song reacts, and the forecast resumes. Listeners who wish to laugh are asked to wait for the second refrain.
At our request, the Section also forecast the refrain: マシカシバシメー, continuing through tomorrow, heavier in coastal areas. The Section considers it accurate. The Legal Department observes that forecasting as a business requires the Meteorological Agency's licence (Meteorological Service Act, Article 17), that the Section holds none, and that the refrain resumes straight after the warning for the coast. All three have been filed.
The Meaning Recovery Section examined the forty morae of the refrain and recovered six: しばし, "for a little while", inside the first word, and オワリ, "the end", at the head of the fourth phrase, so the album's first chorus already contains its last word (see Case 12). Recovery of the remainder is suspended until further rain. Recovery rate: 15 percent. The other 85 percent has been classified as resonance. The Language Research Institute (activities suspended since 2013) has opened the spirit tongue ledger: 5 entries, 0 meanings registered. Per the Legal Department, we do not comment on individual syllables.
Designated emotion: curious, warm, a little uncanny, and unlicensed. Please do not hear this track as sinister. The weather stays ordinary throughout. It is the language that has started dreaming, and the eleven cases that follow take place inside that dream.
Specifications
| Product | Mashikashibashime |
|---|---|
| Product code | TLS-OYR-01 |
| Category failure | weather forecast → song |
| Structure | verses: 4 sentences of forecast (Okinawa) · refrain: 5 phrases, 40 morae |
| Languages | present-day broadcast Japanese, spirit tongue |
| Forecast for the refrain | マシカシバシメー, continuing through tomorrow, heavier in coastal areas (Weather Forecast Language Section) |
| Meaning recovery | 15% (6 of 40 morae; the remaining 85% classified as resonance) |
| Designated emotion | curious, warm, a little uncanny, and unlicensed |
| Unsupported readings | sinister, a curse, a warning |
| Warranty | Limited to the official interpretation |
| Related documents | Language Research Institute, interim report (2013), audio material 1, "Weather bulletin reading (Okinawa region)" |
| Recommended listening environment | indoors, on a day with rain in the forecast. |
| Recommended uses | The night before you open. The first day, for those who start late. |
| Related tool | Seasonal greetings (時候の挨拶): puts the weather at the head of a letter |
| Holdings | "Courtyard pond: log" (kept by General Affairs) |
Precautions
- Do not use this product for real weather decisions. Check the Japan Meteorological Agency's website for current information.
- The refrain forecast is not a forecast under the Meteorological Service Act. (Legal Department)
- The Corporation accepts no responsibility for bystanders surprised by humming.
Known issues
- Listeners report hearing しばし. Not a defect.
- Listeners report hearing トゥトゥトゥー again two tracks later. By design (Case 03).
- Some listeners hear a scale (レ・ミ・シ・ラ) inside ディレミシメラトゥー. Referred to Case 12.
- The refrain resumes directly after 「沿岸部では、強い風と高い波に十分注意してください」. 仕様でございます. (By design.)
Spirit tongue ledger (extract)
| No. | Form | First attested | Meaning | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Y-001 | マシカシバシメー | Case 01 | unregistered | contains しばし (Meaning Recovery Section) |
| Y-002 | タタガメラスー | Case 01 | unregistered | stem タタガ |
| Y-003 | ディレミシメラトゥー | Case 01 | unregistered | |
| Y-004 | オワリマサメレトゥー | Case 01 | unregistered | contains オワリ (see Case 12) |
| Y-005 | オウェラレトゥトゥトゥー | Case 01 | unregistered | トゥトゥトゥー referred to Case 03 |
In the last refrain, Y-004 and Y-005 merge as オワリマサメレトゥトゥトゥー. Entries: 5. Meanings registered: 0. (Language Research Institute, activities suspended since 2013)
Cross-references
Cases 03, 07, 12. Background: Language Research Institute, interim report (2013), audio material 1, "Weather bulletin reading (Okinawa region)". tuturigachicorp.com
Approval
Seals 5／5
Revision history
| Version 1.0 | 2026.10.23 | First issue |
|---|
Listen
Audio material 1: telephone and cassette versions (in Japanese)
Linking verse
「あきさめや しばしやまぬと よほうあり」 蛙一同
"Autumn rain
not stopping for a while,
says the forecast" (the frogs together)
Credits: some weather-related phrasing draws on public information from the Japan Meteorological Agency.
