The Real Meaning Behind Turning Japanese By The Vapors

For decades, fans have been convinced that The Vapors, a New-Wave act out of England, wrote a song about masturbation. That’s certainly the consensus of contributors who provided their interpretations to Songfacts. Similarly, music historian Jon Kutner suggested on his blog that there’s an element of ugly stereotypes about Asians in the lyrics, writing, “Turning Japanese [supposedly] refers to the Oriental facial expression people pull at the moment of climax.”

The one man who can say for certain 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 said, but he needed lyrics. Then in the middle of the night, he woke up and “had that ‘turning Japanese’ line, so I wrote it down and fell asleep again,” he said, adding, “it could have been anything! It could have ended up as Turning Portuguese.”

The song has nothing to do with Asians or facial expressions. And it certainly has nothing to do with “self-love.” 

Fenton said, “It was weird when people started saying it was about masturbation. I can’t claim that one!” 

As for what “Turning Japanese” is about, Fenton says it’s simply a love song about a relationship that ended. All he was left with was a photograph of his beloved, and an empty feeling.

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