Vocabulary

overseas activities

mock voting

thank you for your continued patronage

identification papers; ID

thank you for your continued patronage

to have a lot on one's shoulders; to bear a lot of responsibility

time preservation; saving time

speaker at a public hearing

central government reform (2001 restructuring of Japan's national ministries and agencies)

spoils system

meritocracy; performance-based system; achievement-based system

special Diet session; special session of the Diet; Diet session required to be convoked within thirty days of a general election

emergency meeting of the upper house of the Diet (in response to dissolution of the lower house)

in-house faction (political groups within the Diet)

cross-voting

everything; for (to) everything; (in) anything

merino (breed of sheep)

Visa (credit) card

lemon juice

lemon juice (ingredient)

word processing software

if; in case; supposing

dear (old); good old; longed-for; classic; nostalgic

once per week

Irish person; Irishman; Irishwoman

wedded life; married life

(for) several nights

critical argument laden with value judgment, where an indirect cause, often trivial, is made to appear as leading to the effect

(very) cautious; careful

room for rent (lease); room to let; office space for rent (lease)

matrilineal emperor of Japan; emperor (either male or female) whose mother is (was) a member of the Imperial family but whose father is (was) not

crisp, unwrinkled banknote

leg hair

soldering

carrageenan (seaweed-based emulsifying agent)

loyalty; faithfulness

gunfight; firefight; gun battle; shoot-out

oil company

fleeing from North Korea

person who has fled from North Korea; North Korean defector