Chabudai Gaeshi – Throwing and flipping tables

Is it normal when we get angry to throw something at people? In Japan, this becomes more fun because houses have a small table called chabudai (卓袱台). These small wooden tables that have a low height of 15 to 30cm can be easily thrown up when a person is stressed. This act of flipping and throwing the table is called Chabudai Gaeshi (ちゃぶ台返し).

The act of throwing the table in anger has typically been represented by frustrated husbands and fathers in TV shows, mangas, and animes. The first occurrence was in a 1968 anime/manga called “Star of the Giants” and in a 1975 dorama called “Terauchi Kantarou Ikka”. Throwing the table expresses anger, frustration, and disapproval. The chabudai gaeshi is seen as an action of outdated parents, an act that can destroy the family.

Chabudai tables are placed on floors that have tatami, where people sit on a zabuton or on the floor. These tables are used for various purposes such as studying, playing, and even dining. In winter, these tables are replaced by a kotatsu.

Chabudai Emojis – Flipping the table

Japan being one of the countries that invented the emoji, created several expressing the action of flipping and throwing tables at people. These text-based emoticons likely emerged in the early 1990s. Let’s see some below:

• (ﾉ≧∇≦)ﾉ ﾐ ┸┸)`νﾟ)･;’;
• (ノTДT)ノ ┫:･’.::･┻┻:･’.::･
• (ﾉ≧∇≦)ﾉ ﾐ ┸━┸
• (ﾉ*｀▽´*)ﾉ ⌒┫ ┻ ┣ ┳
• (ノ｀m´)ノ ~┻━┻ (/o＼)
• ⌒┫ ┻ ┣ ⌒┻☆)ﾟ⊿ﾟ)ﾉWTF!
• ┻━┻︵└(´▃｀└)
• (ノ￣皿￣）ノ ⌒=== ┫
• (-_- )ﾉ⌒┫ ┻ ┣
• ┻━┻ ︵ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ︵ ┻━┻
• ノ｀⌒´)ノ ┫：・’.：：・┻┻
• (┛ಸ_ಸ)┛彡┻━┻
• (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
• (┛✧Д✧))┛彡┻━┻
• (┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻
• (ノ｀⌒´)ノ ┫：・’.：：・┻┻：・’.：：・
• (ノಥ,_｣ಥ)ノ彡┻━┻
• (ﾉ´･ω･)ﾉ ﾐ ┸━┸
• (╯ರ ~ ರ）╯︵ ┻━┻
• ─=≡Σ((((╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
• ┻━┻ミ＼(≧ﾛ≦＼)
• ┻━┻ ︵ ¯(ツ)/¯ ︵ ┻━┻
• ﾐ┻┻(ﾉ>｡<)ﾉ
• .::･┻┻☆()ﾟOﾟ)
• ┻━┻︵└(՞▃՞ └)
• (ノ｀´)ノ ~┻━┻
• (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
• ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ⌒┫ ┻ ┣
• ༼ﾉຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ︵┻━┻
• ミ(ノ￣^￣)ノ≡≡≡≡≡━┳━☆()￣□￣)/
• (ﾉ｀A”)ﾉ ⌒┫ ┻ ┣ ┳☆(x x)

The table flipping game – Cho chabudai gaeshi

This culture of flipping the table when angry has even turned into a game called cho chabudai gaeshi, whose only objective is to flip the table and throw it, scoring points. This game can be found in the arcades in Japan. The game offers the option to choose scenarios and characters, then just play and flip the table in the best way possible.

Thank you for reading, we appreciate the comments and shares. To conclude the article, watch a video of Velberan flipping the table: