erokawa
adj.— «Erokawa, the women’s weekly says, is a conjunction of the English word “erotic” and “kawaii,” the Japanese for cuteness, especially of the sickly sweet, saccharine-type. Though women had until recently largely tended to shun the “erotic” look because it made them appear cheap, now erokawa—cute but sexy—is apparently all the rage, especially among younger housewives.» —“Saitama’s Sharapova at forefront of housewives’ flash the flesh fad” by Ryann Connell Mainichi Daily Times (Japan) Feb. 15, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Enthusiastic book recommendations! Martha’s savoring the biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the 19th-century explorer, polymath, and naturalist who revolutionized our understanding of nature and predicted the effects of human activity on...
In Japanese, the word san (さん) means “three” and kyuu (きゅう) means “nine.” Said together, the words sound like English “thank you,” so back in the 1990s, when pagers were all the rage among Japanese teens, typing 999 was a quick way to punningly...