February 2 - 気違い (Japanese Word Origins vol. 2)

This is the second in a five-part series exploring the origins of common Japanese phrases.

気違い (kichigai) - "Crazy, mentally unsound, a bit off."

Nobody had a problem with Tomoyuki when he first moved into the Fujiwara neighborhood on the outskirts of Yokohama. A single man in his late 20s, Tomoyuki impressed everyone as a devoted worker (with Mitsubishi Motors) and a conscientious neighbor. He always kept his yard impeccably manicured and was always quick to lend a hand whenever anyone in the area needed help.
One Saturday afternoon, Tomoyuki was working outside when a baseball cleared his fence and plopped into his backyard. Moments later, he saw three grade school boys peering cautiously over the fence top. When they saw him see them they dropped out of sight. Tomoyuki picked up the ball.
"Wow," he said. "What an amazing thing. This ball just fell right out of the sky. It must be magical! I'll have to add this to my collection."
Tomoyuki smiled as he listened to the boys arguing over which of them would go through the gate and approach him. Finally, one of the boys entered his yard.
"I'm terribly sorry to bother you, sir, but I believe our ball has landed in your yard. Begging your forgiveness, I humbly appeal to you to allow me to take it back."
Tomoyuki laughed at the boy's exaggerated politeness and told him not to worry about it. Then he offered the boys some pomegranate juice he'd just squeezed. After some hemming and hawing, the boys decided that the offer of such an exotic drink overruled their parents' orders never to go into the homes of strangers. Besides, Tomoyuki wasn't really a stranger. Everybody knew who he was. They just didn't know him that well was all.
The boys entered his home and were immediately enchanted by all the amazing stuff he had: Crazy futuristic furniture unlike any they'd ever seen, tiki torches flanking a bamboo bar, black velvet paintings of some guy--a singer?--in a sparkly white suit, thick carpet that you could feel between your toes, all sorts of lunchboxes, action figures, dolls, and other stuff emblazoned with people's faces. It was like the guy had his own museum, only they couldn't figure out what it was a museum for. They only knew that it was all really, really cool.
After finishing the juice and playing with some of the toys (with Tomoyuki's permission, of course), the boys thanked him much less formally and returned to their game of baseball, excited about all the crazy stuff they'd seen.
Later on that evening, however, their parents were not so excited. They recognized what the boys were going on and on about. It was kitsch, and one thing the adults of Fujiwara didn't like was kitsch. It was dangerous and frowned upon--a sign of deeper issues the parents didn't want to go into with their sons. The boys were told never to return to Tomoyuki's home again.
In fact, that was about the last time anyone ever called him Tomoyuki. From then on, he was just known as the kitschy guy and most people stayed away from him because they thought him unsound and maybe even a little bit crazy--just because he liked the kitsch.
Eventually, he moved to Tokyo, but the term kitschy guy persisted and morphed into one word, kichigai. Today it is used by Japanese people everywhere to refer to anyone or anything they think is kind of crazy.