Why Blue in Japan Looks Like Green to Americans

Summary by Krater

This video explains why the Japanese language historically used the same word, "aoi," for both blue and green, examining how languages categorize colors and how Japanese later adopted a distinct word for green.

From the video

Answers: Why does Japanese use the same word for blue and green?

• color terminology in Japanese
• linguistic relativity
• history of Japanese color words
• color perception across cultures

What it concludes

• Human eyes can distinguish about 7 million different color variations, but no language has a name for all of them.
• Historically, Japanese used only four color words (white, black, red, and blue) with "aoi" covering shades from green to blue.
• Japan eventually added a distinct word for green, midori, as the language and vocabulary expanded, though "aoi" remains used for certain green things due to historical legacy.