For a long time, fanatics have been convinced that The Vapors, a New-Wave act out of England, wrote a tune about masturbation. That’s indisputably the consensus of members who equipped their interpretations to Songfacts. Similarly, tune historian Jon Kutner suggested on his blog that there’s an element of unsightly stereotypes about Asians in the lyrics, writing, “Turning Japanese [supposedly] refers to the Oriental facial expression other people pull at the moment of climax.”
The one man who can say for sure what “Turning Japanese” is about is the man who wrote the song, David Fenton. As he told Songwriting in 2021, he had the melody, he mentioned, but he wanted lyrics. Then in the center of the night, he awoke and “had that ‘turning Japanese’ line, so I wrote it down and fell asleep again,” he mentioned, including, “it might had been anything! It may have ended up as Turning Portuguese.”
The tune has nothing to do with Asians or facial expressions. And it undoubtedly has not anything to do with “self-love.”
Fenton stated, “It was once bizarre when folks started saying it was once about masturbation. I will’t claim that one!”
As for what “Turning Japanese” is ready, Fenton says it’s simply a love track a couple of relationship that ended. All he was once left with was once a photograph of his cherished, and an empty feeling.
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