My Son Thought His Friend Was Going Abroad on Accumulated Karma

What's going on

Airline miles — the reward points you accumulate from flights to redeem for travel — are called マイル (mairu) in Japanese. Karma, the cosmic ledger of good and bad deeds across lifetimes, is カルマ (karuma). To a fourth-grader who's never flown, the two words are just similar enough to cause trouble.

A dad shared the moment his son came home and asked, with complete sincerity, whether their family had accumulated enough karma to go abroad that summer — because a friend at school had announced he was going overseas on his family's accumulated karma. The father's brain stalled for a second before realizing the friend had meant miles. He urged his son to go correct the record with his classmates first thing in the morning.

The thread that followed took the mix-up seriously — in the worst possible way. If karma is what's getting you on that plane, where exactly are you headed?

Comments

My fourth-grade son asked me, “Dad, have we not accumulated any karma?”

Me: “Come again?”

Son: “Karma.”

Me: “…”

Son: “My friend said his family’s going abroad this summer on their accumulated karma. He told everyone at school. So lucky~”

Me: “That’s probably miles, not karma — please go correct everyone first thing tomorrow morning!!!”

小4のむすこが「パパ、うちはカルマ貯まってないの？」と。僕「なんて？」むすこ「カルマ」僕「」むすこ「友だちが夏に、貯まったカルマで海外に行くんだって。学校でみんなに言ってた。いいなー」僕「それたぶんカルマじゃなくてマイルだと思うから朝イチでみんなに訂正してあげて！！！」

lmao

わろた

This is too funny 😂

面白すぎる😂

pfft lol

んふwww

Don’t worry, Dad’s been clearing the karma in advance ( ˙ω˙)و ｸﾞｯ!

カルマはパパが予め取り除いてるからだいじょーぶ( *˙ω˙*)و ｸﾞｯ!

It’s like purging the corruption gauge in pachinko slots (a mechanic in some slot machines where built-up “impurity” is periodically cleared for a payout) — except the payout is a vacation

パチスロの穢れ解放みたいな恩恵やな

Deep in karma (go — the Buddhist concept of accumulated sin or karmic debt)

業が深い

Sounds like they’re shaping up to be quite a karmic household 😏

なんだか因果な家族になりそうだな😏

I’ve got plenty of karma (the sinful kind). More than I know what to do with.

ワシ、カルマ（業）はいっぱいあるぞ。持て余してるほどな

I feel like my household has a pretty healthy karma stockpile

うちはカルマ結構溜まってそう

Wouldn’t having a lot of karma be… bad?

カルマ貯まったらヤバイのでは

Everyone’s accumulating karma, one way or another

カルマは多かれ少なかれみんな溜まっているよ

I guess you’d need to rack up some good deeds first

善行でも積むのかな

Wait what lol that’s the kind you’re NOT supposed to accumulate lol karma lol karmic debt lol!!

！？www溜まったらアカンやつwww カルマwww業www！！

Karma does seem easier to accumulate than miles tbh lol

カルマのほうがマイルより貯まりやすそうではあるw

Going abroad on karma? That’s called exile.

カルマで海外旅行てそれ流刑やんけ

Banishment to an island?

島流しかな？

Forced deportation lol

強制退去国外追放ｗ

Accumulate enough karma and you get deported — that’s a pretty dystopian country

カルマが溜まると国外追放なかなかのディストピア国家

Spending your accumulated karmic debt on a vacation…??

溜まった業(カルマ)を費やして旅行に…？？

I wonder where you’d go with all that karmic debt

たまった業でどこ行こう

A trip funded by accumulated karma… If it’s good karma, sounds like an amazing vacation. If it’s bad karma, sounds like you’re not coming back.

貯まったカルマで行く旅行… 善行なら最高にいい旅行になりそうでいいけど、悪行だともう帰って来れなさそう

By train, on karma! Oh wait, it’s a plane (^o^;)

電車で業！残念、飛行機か(^o^;)

The only trip you can take on karma is the cycle of reincarnation (in Buddhist belief, karmic debt determines your rebirth in the next life)

カルマで行けるのは輪廻の旅だね

“The whole family, on karmic debt!!!” ⊂二二二(　^ω^)二⊃ブーン (the emoticon represents a small airplane)

「家族みんなで業（ごう）！！！」 ⊂二二二(　^ω^)二⊃ブーン

Having karma stocked up would be a problem… can’t level up (Xanadu, a classic 1985 Falcom RPG, had a karma system where sinful acts raised your karma value and blocked you from leveling)

カルマ貯まってたら大変だな……レベルが上げられない（それはザナドゥ）

Thought they were heading for a bad ending — high karma leads to bad ends (Summon Night, a tactical RPG series, where karma points pushed you toward darker story routes)

バッドエンドいくのかと思った（カルマ値高いとバッドエンドいく。サモナイ脳）

Heard you can’t beat the game with low KARMA — smart to check! (Ultima, the classic CRPG series, had a Karma system where good deeds were required to complete the game)

KARMAが低いとクリア出来ないらしいからね、確認えらい！(ウルティマ脳)

“Going abroad on accumulated karma” — taken at face value, sounds like an advanced-level reincarnator

「貯まったカルマで海外行く」字面だけ見たら輪廻転生の上級者って言われそう

My take

I imagine we've all accumulated more than enough for a round-the-world trip — it's just that the only destination on offer seems to be hell.

#Funny #Culture #Parenting

Source & translation note

Comments loosely translated for tone. Reactions collected from Togetter and X threads.

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