Odd made-in-Japan English neologisms sometimes leaped from the page. Mane-moon, or “money-moon,” was one such creation, defined as “a honeymoon for those who married for money.” The borrowed English term “bestseller” was accompanied by sekkusu serā or “sex seller,” referring to an erotic book. Caustic new idioms jostled against foreign imports, among them the wonderful go-seru or “five lets” by which to appease government officials: let them eat, drink, grab money, sleep with women, and put on airs. This catchy term, so irreverent and open, flew in the face of the traditional homily about
...more
