Cancer Sticks (cell phones)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

     Greetings again from Tokyo.  I`ve been to Hongo-dori, and everything is hunky-dory.  Kamakura was lovely with cherry blossoms.

CANCER STICKS--Everybody`s got a cell phone.  It`s like the NYU library out here.  And tiny, tiny cell phones.  There was a U. S. study that cell phones cause cancer.  The Japanese picked up on that and call cell phones "cancer sticks."  (I haven`t checked Nexis.)

PLATFORM SHOES--Some women are tiny and are wearing platform shoes.  They`ve been banned for driving after a recent accident.  Amazingly, I haven`t heard of a slang word.

HOT DOGS--One subway restaurant offers "hotdogs"--for its breakfast special.  There actually is a Japanese word "hotdog," which means pigeon.

AZUKI, MACCHA--"Seventeen Ice" offers the flavors grape, choco-mint, cola, strawberry, cream soda, white-soup, California, Azuki, and Maccha.  Azuki is red bean; Maccha is green tea.  Don`t know if they`re in the OED.

KABUKI DICTIONARY--I saw Kabuki tonight.  The Kabuki-Za Theatre has a Kabuki Dictionary with its program.  It contains these words (OED?):

Aragoto, Bunraku, Edo Period 1603-1868, Geza, Hanamichi, Jidaimono, Kakegoe, Ki, Koken, Meiji Period 1868-1911, Mie, Onnagata, Sewamono, Shin-Kabuki, Shosagoto, Tachimawari, Tachiyaku, Tsuke, Yago.