Japanese puns

[Maciamo]

When I am tired, puns come out of my mouth naturally. I don't know if it's a disease, but I can't help it. Fortunately, I only utter them with close relatives. I will make an exception here.

Here are a few selected ones I can remember (as I make them when I am tired, I tend not to remember them well).

Asking my wife : "Could you give me the digital turtles ?"
- my wife : "..."
- (seeing that she doesn't understand) : "deji-kame" is short for "dejitaru kamera" isn't it. So in English, "digital turtles". One turtle is "kame" in Japanese. The plural is "kamera".

Today while going to the Ghibli Museum (which I do not recommend, btw) : "Mitaka ka Kichijouji eki, dochi ga ii no kashira ?" (I wonder which is better of Mitaka or Kichijouji station). The museum is located in the Inokashira Park, between these two stations...

Watching an anime on TV tonight, there was a doll of a mermaid, so I said : "kore wa ningyo no ningyo desu ka ?" (Is that a mermaid doll ?). The words for "mermaid" and "doll" are homonynous in Japanese.

[den4]

We used to use No Ginger or No Salt in the place of Shoganai or shioganai (shikataganai), depending upon the local dialect...

or, when somebody praised something as being great, they'd say, "saikou desu ne..." and we'd say, "Psycho desu ka? kichigai? ku-rei-gi? Kurrutteru?" ok....I'll go back to not knowing anything again....probably much safer

[Gaijinian]

My nengajou:

窶卍ｹ窶堙娯�扼窶堙ｰﾅｽﾃｦ窶堙ｨ窶禿溪�堋ｵﾂ！窶｢ﾂｽﾅ禿ｺﾂ十窶敖ｪ窶扼

Last years:
窶ｰﾅｽ窶堙坂�ｹﾅｽ窶堙ｩ窶堙ｱ窶堋ｾﾂ！

I LOVE your deji-kamera, by the way! ;)

Oh, see my sig!!!

I also like doing things like:
ﾅｽﾃ�ﾂ催絶�堙個湘ｳ窶佚板・ﾂ・ﾂ・ﾂ・ﾂ・, if I am unhappy with the situation.

Or

窶ｰp窶ｰﾃｯﾋ彙窶堙坂�ｰp窶ｰﾃｵﾋ彙ﾂ！

On-yomi kotoba-asobi!

My friend was trying to learn Thai:

So I asked Thai窶｢ﾃ鞘�堙��堋ｷ窶堋ｩﾂ？

窶ｰﾃ披�｢ﾂｲ窶堙坂�ｰﾃ倪�堙固ｸﾂ､ﾂ。ﾂ（ﾂ湘篠）
窶堋｢窶堙｢ﾂ、窶ｰﾃ披�｢ﾂｳﾂ（窶堋ｩ窶堙凪�堙ｱﾂ）窶堋ｶ� �堙｡窶堙遺�堋｢窶堋ｩﾂ？窶壺��

[Maciamo]

Yesterday I heard someone in the bus talking about new age, which with his Japanese accent pronounced "nyuueiji". I wanted to ask him if if was talking about a temple called 窶愿ｼ窶ｰiﾅｽ窶ｺ or about "enlistment time" (窶愿ｼ窶ｰcﾅｽﾅｾ).

[Index]

You guys have been in Japan too long....

[nice gaijin]

窶堋ｨ窶堋ｻ窶堙ｧ窶堋ｭ窶堙�窶堙≫�堙��堙ｩ窶堙ｦﾂ。Am I saying that the sky is cloudy, or I am probably carrying something

[kumo]

Those are funny!

I know a few with kanji, but they are not that funny... I don't even know if they can be considered puns

ﾂ鞘�披�堋ｪﾅ�ﾃｬ窶堙披�堙��ﾃｰ窶堋ｵ窶堋｢ﾂ。

ﾂ人窶堙娯�督ｲ窶堙坂┐R窶堋｢ﾂ。

ﾂ鞘�披�堋ｪﾅｽOﾂ人ﾂ集窶堙懌�堙≫�堋ｽ窶堙��堋ｱ窶堙ｫ� �堙ｰﾂ集窶冂窶堙��ﾂｭ窶堋ｷﾂ。(maybe this one was too hard-core )
窶冕2ﾂ人窶堙�鞘��1ﾂ人窶堙�3P窶堋ｷ窶堙ｩ窶堙��ｺj窶 堙ｩﾂ。

And the classic:
ﾂ信+ﾅｽﾃ陳�≫�禿冷�堋ｯ

[Elizabeth]

Today while going to the Ghibli Museum (which I do not recommend, btw) : "Mitaka ka Kichijouji eki, dochi ga ii no kashira ?" (I wonder which is better of Mitaka or Kichijouji station). The museum is located in the Inokashira Park, between these two stations...

It isn't especially dajare or anything, but I always think of something like this when I hear the earthquake reinforcement scandal story :

(窶佚渉震)窶ｹﾂｭ窶忸(窶ｹﾂｦ窶慊ｯ)窶｢s窶伉ｫ窶堋ｷ窶堙ｩ 窶堙�、ﾂ震窶忸窶啜窶ｹﾂｭ窶凖ｶ窶忸窶堙個湘ｪﾂ坂�｡窶� ﾃ債、窶牢窶徭窶ｰﾃｯ窶堙坂�忿窶ｰﾃｳ窶堙娯�堋ｨ窶堋ｻ窶� ﾃｪ窶堋ｪ窶� 窶堙ｩﾂ。

And if someone finds more gems in there, please let me know.

The last one I used was ﾅｽﾃ壺�敖ｪ窶堙ｰﾂ催ｬ窶堙ｩ, before learning how vulger it potentially could be to the right mind.

Just as an aside, in Maciamo's example you can still have your pun but I think maybe it should have been Mitaka to Kichijouji to (de wa) dochi ga ii no kashira ? otherwise instead of which station you're asking whether either is better. I was at both last week this time too and personally prefer the design of Kichijouji....

ﾂ　

[Evan Fitz]

I agree. The Japanese version is A LOT better. The biggest reason is that 90% of the humor doesn't translate well into English and just comes off as lame. Another is that the English voice acting bites.