Betty Boop in Japan (1935)

Everyone knows that Japan loves Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse and Snoopy, but did you know that Betty Boop was popular in Japan before any of them? It's true.


I think it is because Betty Boop could speak Japanese... No. Really. I'm not making it up. Watch this cartoon and see for yourself. In it, she sings in Japanese and dances. Her Japanese is pretty darned good too!

In fact, Betty Boop is still popular in Japan today! I sometimes see her on girl's fashions and in stores on posters and handbags. 


Did you also know that Betty Boop flew to Japan in 1935 and did a stage show? Yep. 


Here is a 1935 Max Fleischer produced Betty Boop cartoon called "A Language All My Own." Max Fleischer was famous for Betty Boop, Koko the Clown, Superman and Popeye.

Wikipedia says about this cartoon:


The studio produced this short after discovering that Betty was very popular in Japan. Animator Myron Waldman, worried that Betty's gestures might offend the conservative Japanese audience, asked a group of Japanese college students to review his work. Having Betty sing in Japanese also allowed her to slip a racy comment past the Hays Office: one of the lyrics in the Japanese song translates to "Come to bed with me and we'll boop-oop-a-doop!"


"Come to bed with me and we'll boop-oop-a-doop" Indeed!


Please enjoy this 5 minute cartoon from a simpler time from yesteryear! This is so charming. You don't get any more eclectic than this!

Betty Boop? You kidding me? I wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating rice crackers!