Vocabulary

Great Dark Spot (on Neptune)

deep (clay) pot

shallow (clay) pot

guided missile; GM

welcome rain; merciful rain; blessed rain; rain after a long dry period

seasonal word (in haiku)

event where schoolchildren wash their inkstones, brushes and desks the night before Tanabata to pray for success in their studies

to clean and repaper shoji in preparation for winter

bamboo mat

rich or poor, a man is a man; a man whose hair is tied with straw is still a man

thick malt syrup poured into boiling water and sprinkled with cinnamon (used as a refreshing summer drink)

avoiding the summer heat; beating the summer heat

water left in buckets on the roadside during the summer for travellers

chestnut rice; rice boiled with chestnuts

warm sake (formerly drunk on the 9th day of the 9th month of the lunar calendar to ward off illness)

monkey booze; sake-like liquid produced by the fermentation of fruits left by monkeys in tree caches or hollows in rocks

year-end bonus; bonus salary given at the end of the year

large prize (e.g. in horse racing)

hot sake with grilled fish fins (esp. fugu or sea bream)

sake; alcohol; liquor

sake made from rice or other cereal which is chewed before fermentation

sake that has been kept in a wooden cask; cask sake; barreled sake

low orbit; low Earth orbit; LEO

low Earth orbit

small tube; pipette; tubule

graded race; high-stakes race

coordinator; coordinating role

planning decision

operating (e.g. of trains, cars); running; working

government funding; government-financed

revisit rate (e.g. for a website); visitor retention rate

having no relation with whatsoever; having nothing to do with; alien

system of self-management; honour system

indiscriminately

avoirdupois ounce

dwarf irregular galaxy

pro-Arab

auricular lymph node

takotsubo cardiomyopathy

Vesta (goddess)