Obake (お化け) and bakemono (化け物) are a class of yōkai, preternatural creatures in Japanese folklore. These words are often translated as ghost, but primarily they refer to living things or supernatural beings who have taken on a temporary transformation, and these bakemono are distinct from the spirits of the dead. However, as a secondary usage, the term obake can be a synonym for yūrei, the ghost of a deceased human being.
A one-way mirror, also known as a two-way mirror, one-way glass, or two-way glass is a mirror which is partially reflective and partially transparent. When one side of the mirror is brightly lit and the other is dark, it allows viewing from the darkened side but not vice versa.
A practical joke (also known as a prank, gag, or jape) is a mischievous trick played on someone, typically causing the victim to experience embarrassment, indignity, or discomfort.
The Fuccons, known in Japan as Oh! Mikey (オー! マイキー Ō! Maikī), is a series of Japanese comedy sketches created by Yoshimasa Ishibashi featuring a family of Americans (“The Fuccons”) living in metropolitan Japan.
A traditional Japanese breakfast is based on rice, seafood, and fermented foods, which do not differ substantially from dishes eaten at other meals in Japanese cuisine. A typical Japanese restaurant breakfast presentation would be miso soup, rice with nori or other garnishes, nattō, rice porridge, grilled fish, raw egg, and a pickled vegetable.
The poet Bashō is named after the Japanese word for a banana plant. The “bashō” planted in his garden by a grateful student became a source of inspiration to his poetry, as well as a symbol of his life and home.
[Bashō's] disciples built him a rustic hut and planted a banana tree (芭蕉, bashō) in the yard, giving Bashō a new haigō and his first permanent home.
Fundoshi (褌) is the traditional Japanese underwear for adult males, made from a length of cotton. Before World War II the fundoshi was the main form of underwear for Japanese adult males; however it went out of use quickly after the war with the advent of new underwear, such as briefs and trunks, on the Japanese market.
Nattō (なっとう or 納豆, Nattō) is a traditional Japanese food made from fermented soybeans, popular especially for breakfast. Many non-Japanese find the taste very unpleasant, while others relish it as a delicacy.
Tamori (タモリ) is a Japanese celebrity. His real name is Kazuyoshi Morita (森田 一義) and the screenname Tamori is an anagram of his surname. He was born on 22 August 1945 in Fukuoka City in Fukuoka Prefecture. Along with Takeshi Kitano (Beat Takeshi) and Sanma Akashiya, he is one of the big three television comedians in Japan.
Tetsuko Kuroyanagi (黒柳徹子, Kuroyanagi Tetsuko) (born August 9, 1933 in Tokyo) is an internationally famous Japanese actress, a talk show host, a best-selling author of children book,a World Wide Fund for Nature advisor, and a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF.
The Epoch (Super) Cassette Vision was a video game console made by Epoch and released in Japan on July 30, 1981. Despite the name, the console used cartridges, not cassettes, and it has the distinction of being the first ever programmable console video game system to be made in Japan.
Epoch Co., Ltd. is a Japanese toy and computer games company founded in 1958 which is best known for manufacturing Barcode Battler and Doraemon video games. Its current Representative President is Road Yutaka Maeda.
イモ欽トリオ（いもきんとりお）は、日本のテレビ番組起源のコミックソングユニット。
Translation: Imokin Trio [was] an television comedy musical group [active between 1981 and 1983].
The development of a girl’s breasts during puberty is triggered by sex hormones, chiefly estrogen. This hormone has been demonstrated to cause the development of woman-like, enlarged breasts in men, a condition called gynecomastia, and is sometimes used deliberately for this effect in transwomen who receive hormone replacement therapy.
The [Intel] Core 2 brand refers to a range of Intel’s consumer 64-bit dual-core and 2×2 MCM quad-core CPUs with the x86-64 instruction set, based on the Intel Core microarchitecture, derived from the 32-bit dual-core Yonah laptop processor.
Kendo (剣道, kendō), or “way of the sword”, is the Japanese martial art of swords. Kendo developed from traditional techniques of Japanese swordsmanship known as kenjutsu. [It] is practised wearing traditionally styled clothing and protective armour (bōgu), using one or two bamboo swords (shinai) as weapons.
The Yokohama Landmark Tower (横浜ランドマークタワー, Yokohama Randomāku Tawā) is the tallest building in Japan, standing 295.8 m (970 ft) high. It is located in the futuristic Minato Mirai 21 district of Yokohama city, right next to Yokohama Museum of Modern Art. Work on the building was finished in 1993.
Hard Gay is not in fact homosexual nor particularly outrageous, but a rather ordinary male comedian portraying a character. Television programs in which he has appeared have increasingly made reference to this, and he himself has significantly reduced his comic gay mannerisms in live appearances on variety and other types of programs.
Janken (じゃんけん, Janken), sometimes Janken-Pon (じゃんけんぽん, Janken-Pon), is “Rock, Paper, Scissors” in the English-speaking world, and it is the most popular of a subset of games played using only one’s hands, known as “Ken games” (ken asobi/拳遊び, “Ken games”). It was invented in the late 19th century and acquired popularity world-wide throughout the 20th century.
Downtown (ダウンタウン, Downtown) is a Japanese comedy duo (kombi) consisting of Hitoshi Matsumoto (松本人志, Hitoshi Matsumoto) and Masatoshi Hamada (浜田雅功, Masatoshi Hamada). Downtown is probably the most influential kombi to come from Yoshimoto Kōgyō, and is arguably the most popular kombi in Japan today.
As with many owarai kombi, there exists a boke and a tsukkomi. Matsumoto is the boke of the two and often puts up with light physical abuse (it is common for the tsukkomi to slap the boke on top of his head whenever he says something rude or ridiculous) from Hamada, the tsukkomi. Hamada is also known to attack other tarento and celebrities (such as Ayumi Hamasaki) when they give boke-like responses to Downtown’s questions. Hamada’s aggressive ways have earned him the nickname of Do ESU no Hamada (ドＳの浜田, Do ESU no Hamada), or “Hamada the Super Sadist.”
The Nova Group is the largest of the Big Four eikaiwa (or private English teaching companies) in Japan. Many of Nova branches are located near train stations, and the company uses the term ‘ekimae ryūgaku’ (“study abroad near the train station”: 駅前留学) in its promotional materials. On June 13, 2007, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry imposed a six-month ban on Nova from soliciting, accepting or finalizing new contracts for long-term courses that last for over a year or 70 hours. The ban was imposed because of issues regarding refunds for the cancellation of contracts
EFL, English as a foreign language, indicates the use of English in a non-English-speaking region. Study can occur either in the student’s home country, as part of the normal school curriculum or otherwise, or, for the more privileged minority, in an anglophone country which they visit as a sort of educational tourist, particularly immediately before or after graduating from university.
Breaking is a martial arts skill that is used in competition, demonstration and testing. Breaking is an action where a martial artist uses a striking surface to break one or more objects using the skills honed in his art form.
Kasou Taishou (欽ちゃん＆香取慎吾の全日本仮装大賞; Kinchan and Katori Shingo’s All Japan Costume Grand Prix) is a semi-annual show on NTV in which various amateur groups (or solo artists) perform short skits, which are rated by a panel of judges.
