Japanese short form for 'yarimashita' meaning "did it".
When used as an exclamation 'Yatta!' it has the meaning of "I did it!"

There's also a merry ditty by Japanese comedy group Happa-tai (Leaf-team) with this name. A video of a performance of this has been making its way around the internet. It seems to be popular as it depicts the performers prancing around in small white shorts with pictures of fig leaves on the front, reaffirming the popular view that the Japanese are truly mad.

To find: Do a google search for "yattapv.asf".

PS: There is a flash movie floating around based on the video. It lives on E2 here.


There's also a West Bank town with this name, but that's another node
Much like All your base are belong to us, Yatta! has become a major Internet meme: anyone who hasn't seen Happatai's music video is certainly missing out on a good laugh. But there's also a good deal of social commentary going on in these lyrics. Consider:

Yatta! Yatta! We're doin' great in college!
Yatta! Yatta! Made president at our jobs!
Long as we've one leaf on, we're doin' fine!
Hey, we're lucky just 'cause we're alive!
In Japan, if you graduate from a rokudai school (which takes virtually no effort... getting in is where effort is needed), you're guaranteed an awesome job in a good megacorporation or in the government, where you basically sit at a desk and goof off for 12 hours a day thanks to the wonders of lifetime employment. Education is just a way to earn your bullshit, not to learn.

For example, one of my friends, a pharmacy student here in Hogtown, completed her degree at a university in Osaka. Then, she came over here, and discovered, much to her dismay, that an American degree demands mastery of a million fields that a Japanese degree doesn't even touch on. Ever wonder why you see so many Asians in American graduate schools? Well, now you know. As they put it:

Japan's got crises, but tomorrow's wonderful
Even if somebody's mean to us, we just go to bed and
Snore! Snore! Snore! Snore! Pass! Pass! Pass! Pass!
(Ohayo!)
What's Yatta! telling us? It's telling us that in Japanese society, you can fuck off and it doesn't matter. Let's hit reset! Be ichiban! The bubble economy shall return!

GOOD MORNING! It doesn't work that way!

Irrational Exuberance gains its genius from the fact that it effectively translates the concepts in Yatta! to an American audience, who wouldn't get the Snore! Snore! Pass! Pass! part, but can appreciate the way that commercialism dumbs down their society. Hey, as long as we're happy, who cares if we're dancing in our skivvies?

Yatta! We did it! The only question is, what did we do?

a rambling poetic interpretation brought to you by sekicho - it's the economy, stupid

YATTA!

"Yatta!", which has become one of the most famous internet memes next to Hatten är din and All your Base are belong to us was origninally created by a japanese comedy duo called Ucchan-Nanchan (their real names are Teruyoshi Uchimura and Kiyotaka Nanbara), who have a very successful show on TV. On one of their tv shows ( they actually have multiple shows on various stations, such as NTV, Asahi TV and TBS) they started "Yatta!" as a sketch on that show, in a way similar to the early apprearances of the Blues Brothers on SNL. The sketch was about a fictional music group called Happa-tai (which could be translated as Leaf Squad, Leaf Group or Leaf Club). The members of this group wear only a leaf, singing their spirited ode to happyness, Yatta! (which, as mentioned above, is an exclamation of satisfaction, or happyness, similar to the english Yeah or Yippee!). The group consists of Ucchan and Nanchan and a couple of the regular guests. The sketch was positively received by the audience, and was thus refined, reshaped, and appeared various times in various forms on the show, until the song was finally released on CD. The video circulating on the internet is probably the official music video for the song.

As the original japanese text (absolutely relevant for late-night nomikai-karaoke sessions) has not been noded yet, I'll add it below. The parts in brackets are sung by everybody...

G R Double-E N Leaves
G R Double-E N Leaves

It's so easy! Happy go lucky!
We are the world! We did it!
Hyuu! Hyuu! Hyuu! Hyuu! Osu! Osu! Osu! Osu! (Ai!)
Yatta! Yatta!
Daigaku gohgaku
Yatta! Yatta!
Shachoh shuunin
Happa ichimai areba ii. Ikite iru kara lucky da!

Yatta! Yatta!
Tohsen kakujitsu
Yatta! Yatta!
Nihon daihyoh
Yannaru kurai kenkoh da.
Everybody say yatta!

Nippon kyuukyuu (demo)
Ashita wa wonderful
Ijiwaru saretemo futon haireba
Guu guu guu guu! Pass pass pass pass (Ohayo--!)

Yatta! Yatta!
Kuujikan suimin
Yatta! Yatta!
Neoki de jump
Donna ii koto aru daroh ikite ita kara lucky da!

Yatta! Yatta!
Kimi ga kawareba
Yatta! Yatta!
Sekai mo kawaru
Marugoshi dakara saikoh da massugu tattara kimochi ii--!

O-mizu nondara umee! (Yatta!)
Hi ni atattara attakee! (Yatta!)
Hara kara warattara omoshiree! (Yatta! Yatta!)
Inu-katte mitara kawaii! (Yatta!)

{Repeat}
Surechigai-zama hohoemi kureta
Nido to aenaku-tatte ii kimi ga ita kara lucky da!

Heisei fukyoh seiji fushin
Reset sae surya saikoh da! Minna iru kara tanoshii--!

Yatta! Yatta!
Daigaku kyohshitsu
Yatta! Yatta!
Movie star
Happa ichimai areba ii. Minna issho da happy da!

Yatta! Yatta!
Iki wo sueru
Yatta! Yatta!
Iki wo hakeru
Yannaru gurai kenkoh da! Everybody say yatta!

{Repeat}
Bye-Q!

2001, Happa-Tai, released by Pony Canyon.

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