I believe I’ve finally found a case where the above weak English pun on “martial arts” actually works in Japanese. Staff fighting in Japan and Okinawa is known as boujutsu, written 棒術 (pole + technique). Identical pronunciation with different kanji, however, yields 房術 (room + technique), meaning “the art of lovemaking”.

This appears to be a deliberate pun, with the more usual words for lovemaking being bouchuujutsu 房中術 (“within a room” + technique) or keiboujutsu 閨房術 (bedroom + technique). A bit of casual wiki-surfing suggests that the pun comes from the popular Naughty Ninja Girl genre of novels and movies (much the way that the words ninja and kunoichi are basically post-WWII creations, along with the scary-black-pajamas look).

There are three ways to write the word for cloves in Japanese: クローブ (phonetic loanword), 丁子 (common kanji), and 丁字 (which can also be read as “teiji”, where it means the letter “T”). In JMdict, these are completely separate entries, and I just submitted a request to have the first two merged, with 丁子 as the primary. Arguably, they should all be consolidated, but I just did the one; I wouldn’t be surprised if the editors merge the other on their own after looking at my suggestion.

And the underwear? A Google image search for 丁字 is all about the T-backs…

Latest Japanese spam email. This week’s pitch is for a BBS where runaway girls gather; that’s the from line. The subject is “Please become the God of needy girls” (lit: Kami-sama). They promise a community of 50,000 hungry, homeless, poor runaways all over Japan, and wouldn’t you like to help a cute runaway girl? Safe, easy to use (the site, that is), and free (until you actually find one to “help”, of course…).

From: 家出中の女性が集まる掲示板です。 
Subject: 貧しい少女達の神様となってください。
 
食事・宿泊場所・お金に困った全国5万人の家出中の女の子達が、
助けを求めるコミュニティ【家出中のかわいい女子を助けてあげてくれませんか？】です。
家出女子達の希望条件別の検索も可能なので使いやすさの抜群!!
参加の方も完全無料なので安心してご利用になられます。
 
(C) 家出中のかわいい女子を助けてあげてくれませんか？

[Update: and another one today, this one specifically identifying their runaways as high-school girls; it’s officially the new thing]

…was invented by unionized seamstresses who wanted to ensure there would always be hemming work.

Also, I’m short for my height.

[Update: Put on your gi jacket and obi normally. Measure from top of obi to ankle-bone. If inches, divide by 1.49; if centimeters, divide by 3.79. If you’re buying cotton, round up; if tetron (polyester/rayon), round down (half-sizes are sometimes available). This is your hakama size. If a store sizes them 0-6 or S,M,L,XL,etc, leave. Try E-Bogu instead.]

An online cosmetics shop in Japan has published the results of their survey of “where the boobs are” in Japan. Failure to publish their methodology and sample size has not interfered with their primary goal of attracting hits to their site.

Those interested in converting the claimed cup sizes into their local measurement system may use this helpful calculator.

(via the never-safe-for-work Sankaku Complex)

The autumn leaves weren’t the only thing brightening up the Kyoto Botanical Garden.

(no pictures yesterday? I blame it on Star Wars: The Old Republic)

Surprisingly few of the cosplayers at Toei Studio Park had animal ears. Out of season, or out of stock?

Time for another look at Kinkakuji, this time with a well-placed observer.