daikon yakusha

Do you know why bad actors are called, “daikon yakusha”? The daikon radish is good for digestion, so if you eat it you will rarely ever be “hit” with a case of upset stomach. If you say, “fugu ni ataru,” it means to be poisoned by a pufferfish. If you say, “tabeta sakana ni atatta,” it means the fish you ate gave you an upset stomach. But, if you eat daikon, you won't get an upset stomach. In other words, ataranai. It is from this that it has become common to call a bad actor, “daikon yakusha.” Yakusha is the Japanese word for actor. The Japanese word for becoming a hit is also ataru and the negative form of the word is ataranai. An “ataranai yakusha” is an actor who will never become a good actor no matter how hard he tries.

大根役者