Saturday Song: とっとこ ハム太郎 (Hamtaro) Theme Song - Part One

Hamha, and welcome to this week's Saturday Song! Today we're learning the first part of the original Japanese theme song to my favorite anime of all time, Hamtaro! Or in Japanese, とっとこ ハム太郎 (Tottoko Hamutaro). This is a great song for beginners because it has a lot of repeating words and phrases. So grab a sunflower seed snack, and let's learn to sing along with the Ham-Hams!

行きましょう！ Click the link to see the lesson!

Let's get started! First, let's listen to the song. Today we're only going until the 37-second mark, so you can stop there or you can keep watching if you really love Hamtaro like I do.

Okay, now let's break down the lyrics so we can understand them... and sing them! Come on. You know you want to.

Here's the first line:

とっとこ   はしるよ   ハム太郎

     とっとこ: This is an onomatopoeia (sound effect word) for trotting or scampering, like a little animal would.
     はしる: To run.
     ハム太郎: This is our hero's name! Say it like はむたろう.
Fun fact: the kanji in Hamtaro's name mean "plump" and "son." That makes sense, since Hamtaro's a round little boy!

Translated literally, this line says "Trotting, run, Hamtaro."

Here's the next line:

すみっこ   はしるよ   ハム太郎

Say, haven't we seen some of these words before? Two of them are repeated from the first line! That means there's only one new word to learn here.

     すみっこ: a corner or a small place, like a nook.

Translated literally, this sentence says "Corner, run Hamtaro." To make this translation sound more natural in English, I might say something like "Run through small spaces, Hamtaro."

On to the next line!

だいすきなのは    ヒマワリのタネ

     だいすき: really like, or love
     ヒマワリ: sunflower
     タネ: seed

This line is pretty straightforward. It says, "I love sunflower seeds!" Indeed he does.

Now for the last line:

やっぱり   はしるよ   ハム太郎

Again, there's only one new word.

     やっぱり: after all

This line says, literally, "After all, run Hamtaro!" Or perhaps, "After all, we are running, Hamtaro!"


Great job! Now that we know what the lyrics mean, let's sing it! Practice singing the lines by yourself, and then try singing along with the video!

1. とっとこ   はしるよ   ハム太郎

2. すみっこ   はしるよ   ハム太郎

3. だいすきなのは   ヒマワリのタネ

4. やっぱり   はしるよ   ハム太郎


There you have it! Now you can sing and understand the lyrics to the first portion of the とっとこハム太郎 theme song, and I hope you drive all your friends insane by singing it incessantly like I do. Who knows? Maybe they'll join you! Join us here again next week for Part Two!

Bye-Q!
-Kitty