When I first came to Japan, I had the following conversation with a Japanese friend.

Me: Do you know Tanaka-san*?
Sayuri*: Yes.
Me: What do you think about her?
Sayuri: She’s a very unique person.
Me: (smile) Oh cool!
Sayuri: (uncomfortable pause) She’s really unique.
Me: Isn’t that a good thing?
Sayuri: Well…no.

*Names changed.

Well, it turned out that when Japanese people call you “unique”, what they really mean to say is “WHAT A FREAK!” in a polite way so that you don’t feel too bad. It’s not some Japlish slang, and every Japanese person knows what the word “unique” means in English. So why is it that unique = freak? I’ll blog about that later this month.