A friend of mine collects "Japanese penis proverb cards". These come from some Okinawan souvenir set, and they are ordinary Japanese proverbs where one word has been exchanged for the word "penis". Like "biting the hand that feeds you" becomes "biting the penis that feeds you". She says there are around 50 different cards but she only has 12 different ones (and two extras of some card she already had).
Since she wants to collect the full set, she tells everyone she knows that they have to buy the "chinko sukou" Okinawa souvenir cookies if they go to Okinawa. These are penis shaped cookies that are similar to the "chinsukou" famous Okinawan cookie (which sounds similar to "chinko", which means penis), and each box of cookies has one of these cards.
Two days ago I met a young woman who had been looking around at the Okinawa souvenir shop for these, but had been to embarrassed to ask the staff things like: "So where do I find the penis collector cards?" In the end, she found them and bought three boxes.
These cards are quite useful for Japanese practice, I guess. You learn some common proverbs that all the natives know.
Only in Japan.. .-)
ReplyDeleteThe proverbs in Japanese are probably only in Japan, but I would not be surprised if there was something similar in many other countries too :-) Reminds me of one of my professors at KTH in Stockholm ...
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