Japan is a land of euphemisms, some obscure, some humourous, some insulting.
The sex industry has produced many. In a country where prostitution is actually illegal by law, but is worth 1% of the national GDP, a whole bunch of eumphemisms have emerged to prop up the facade:
Japanese word or phrase Actual meaning
health salon brothel
soapland brothel
pink salon blowjob brothel
cabaret lapdance club
delivery health outcall prostitution
love hotel sex hotelgift dating teenage prostitution
lolita con paedophilia
telephone club teenage prostitute club
entertainer visa sex industry visa
water business hostessing
image club fancy dress sex club
happening bar orgy club
pipecut (this makes me cringe) vasectomy
Then there are a number of phrases whose meaning only becomes apparent over time:
language exchange cross-culture dating
education brainwashing
construction make-work
restructured fired
university killing time
Yes No
Maybe No
It's difficult No
We'll think about it No
No Fuck off
Of course, Japan has been doing this for a long time. Here are a couple of gems from the Second World War (Of course, other governments are not immune to this kind of doubletalk, witness collateral damage):
Co-prosperity sphere Empire
Comfort woman sex slave
Nanking incident Nanking massacre
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