Job Discussion Forums

wolfman · Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 189

http://www.amazon.com/Zakennayo-Philip-J-Cunningham/dp/0452275067/sr=8-1/qid=1163476450/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-6462704-0414242?ie=UTF8&s=books

Will customs in Japan let that through?

ripslyme · Joined: 29 Jan 2005 Posts: 481 Location: Japan

wolfman · Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 189

That's what I figured.

I know they prohibit pornography so I thought they might also prohibit anything that could be considered obscene coming through customs.

JimDunlop2 · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 2286 Location: Japan

I HAVE that book -- and yes, I bought it in Japan.

My three sentence book review: It's a funny book. Read it for the sake of humour and maybe even gleaning some info, but if you really want to know the ins and outs (pun not intended) of naughty Japanese, find yourself a local girlfriend who can teach you the goods directly. Otherwise, the contents of it are rather limited in their usage.

furiousmilksheikali · Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 5:12 am Post subject:

Customs officials won't care at all unless you start practicing the contents of that book on them. I also own a copy of it and a lot of the actual Japanese expressions are a lot milder than the English translations given. It's a book that's fairly entertaining but it's full of outdated slang and expressions that would barely be understood by most Japanese.

Also, without wanting to sound too preachy let me quote Michael Swan:

Brooks · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1369 Location: Sagamihara

I brought it to Japan too.
I don`t recommend practicing swearing in any language, unless it is your first language, because if you swear in the wrong situation or place, you look foolish.

wolfman · Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 189

Swearing is probably my favorite part of the English language. It's just so damn fun! However, I think English is probably a pretty easy language to swear in. I dunno about Japanese. Anyway, I just think the book is funny and some of the words in it might be useful to know so I wanted to know if it'd be alright to bring.

I especially love the part where he teaches the reader to say "Boku wa kasei kara kimashta."

At any rate, thanks for the responses.

emypie · Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 1:30 am Post subject:

I found this website on cursing....

http://www.insultmonger.com/swearing/japanese.htm

But I've been told that many of the words are not as bad as the site has them translated, or that they've been translated wrongly, or that only children use certain words like that.

I figure I'll stick to my nice happy conversational Japanese for now!

furiousmilksheikali · Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 1:36 am Post subject:

The writers of some of these books on "the stuff they don't teach you in school" often take a lot of liberties with the translations. In the Cunningham book I seem to remember a conversation where the "cool" American guy says "Keiko-chan, hisashiburi." which is translated as something ridiculous like "Yo Keiko, where you been all my life my little chickidee?"

sallycat · Joined: 11 Mar 2006 Posts: 303 Location: behind you. BOO!

yep, a lot of the translations on that website are wrong, or make words sound too strong.