Monaki -- Honma ya de☆Nande ya nen☆Shiran kedo（ほんまやで☆なんでやねん☆しらんけど）

 

I can't call myself a dialectician or an expert on linguistics although I've had a passing interest in the dialects of Japan, America and Great Britain. Because of my family background though, I've known about the differences between standard Japanese and the Kansai dialect since I was a kid. I won't get into any details (you can look at the above video provided by Miku Real Japanese) but let it be known that when I was visiting my relatives in Osaka years ago, I was literally barraged by loud and boisterous Kansai dialect. They probably thought I was some sort of imposter because frankly I sounded virtually mute compared to them.

My rather academic introductory paragraph is due to the fact that this article is based on the April 2026 debut single by new group Monaki（モナキ）. Titled "Honma ya de☆Nande ya nen☆Shiran kedo" (Hey, It's True☆What the Heck?!☆Got No Idea), it's quite the raucous nostalgic dance club-happy beginning for this quartet of Jin（じん）, Kenken（ケンケン）, Sakai Jr.（サカイJr.）and O-Yone（おヨネ）. I really have no idea why they've come up with this title consisting of Kansai dialect expressions since only one of the four, O-Yone, hails from Osaka (Sakai Jr. was actually born in Texas!). To further add to the nostalgia, I swear that the guys sound like an 80s male aidoru group like Shibugakitai（シブがき隊）or Shonentai（少年隊）.

Monaki, whose name derives from the expression namonaki（名もなき）meaning "nameless", showed up on a recent episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）, and apparently the guys were running late due to traffic, although they were fortunate in that they had been scheduled to be the final act in the show. Indeed, they finally made it to the NHK Osaka studio only a minute or so late to perform "Honma ya de☆Nande ya nen☆Shiran kedo". The song by the way was a great premiere for the guys since it reached No. 3 on Oricon.

If the group and their antics seem familiar to you, that's probably because they are following a well-established group in entertainment, the popular trio Junretsu（純烈）. In fact, Junretsu's leader Kazuyoshi Sakai（酒井一圭）has been mentoring and producing Monaki, and he even co-wrote the lyrics for "Honma ya de☆Nande ya nen☆Shiran kedo" along with Takafumi Iwasaki（岩崎貴文）who also composed the song. I had no idea that Sakai had once been a professional wrestler.