ei EA Ell HyFOREWORD ‘One reason why Thave gotten more pleasure and les exasper- _ton from studying Japanese than from studying Chinese is ‘that the dictionaries of Japanese are so much better: when I ‘ed information about the meaning, sig, and pronuncis- ‘on of Japenese words, I can consult works that give me _elatvely easy access (ey at est in relation tothe obstacles that are posed by what is without doubt the world's screwiest ‘writing system) to detaled and reliable information about the ‘words. And when | use Japanese dietonares, whether bin {gual ones or monolingual dictionaries such a6 an educated Japanese would usar reference workonbisnatvelangusge, ‘Tam usually rewarded with a ind of pleasure that I often experience in Japan or when dealing with mechanical or intel- Jeet products that emanate from Japan: the oy f appreci- ting master craftsmanship and of eling vicariously the pride ‘thatthe craftsman takes in job well done. Chinese chefshave ‘often given me that type of pleasure (which enhances the ‘purely sensory pleasure given by the products oftheir Kitch (ns) but Chinese lxicographers have not. However, despite the extreordinarly high standards thet Ihave been cbserved in Japanese lexicography, pechaps the ‘highest standards that are maintained for dictionaries of any language, there are major gaps in the standard dictionaries of. Japanese, and Peter Constantine's Japanese Stet Slang fs _many ofthese gaps. Japanese dictionary makershave given no ‘more than sporadic coverage to the numerous words that are ‘generally eparded as Impolte or vulgar, and have thereby Felped to foster the widely held misconception that Japanese {s defient in thse important areas of vocabulary. pane ‘Stet Slang will leave no doubt in any readers mind that Japanese is a rich as any European language in words that refer aunchily all known forms of sexual activity, that refer ‘ontemptuously to mental, moral anatomical, and physiclog- {eal shortcomings of ether persons or that make light of on vuJAPANESESTREETSLANG