Shake. A command used by dog owners to get their pets to raise their paws. On New Year's 2006, the next Year of the Dog, temple grounds nationwide will be teeming with dogs and their owners as they make their first prayer of the year together.

In acting, this is a take or a live performance, not a rehearsal. In the sex industry, it�s a euphemism for having sex.

Neither fashionable, nor particularly healthy, this is the Japanese euphemism for a whorehouse.

Geezer-hunting, old-man-hunting, father-hunting. The practice of young teens beating up and robbing older white-collar men. Sometimes the violence is random. Other times, the men are set up by girls posing as prostitutes. The term has been in use since the mid 1990s.

The fatty flesh of tuna. Often caught in nets off the coast of Chile, pulled aboard and spiked in the brain, then laid out on a grass mat or blanket so the two-hundred-kilogram fish won�t bruise. The bluefin is then refrigerated and flown to Tokyo. Once it arrives, the fish is lined up with its compatriots on the cold concrete at Tsukiji, the world�s largest fish market, at about three in the morning. Potential buyers begin to check the tuna around four. They use a flashlight and sharp little hooks to cut open the tuna near its tail and check the marbling and color of the flesh. Around half-past five, the auction begins. If the tuna is good quality, it will bring around ten-thousand yen a kilogram. Once the fish is bought, the buyers will paint a number or symbol on it and later cart it off to a restaurant or market.

A retail chain famous for low-priced fleece jackets and jeans. The clothes are produced in China. Several years ago, Uniqlo was the rising star of Japanese retail, and Tadashi Yanai, the company�s founder, was heralded as a visionary. In 2002, he ranked twelfth on the Asiaweek list of the top fifty powerful people in the region. �The bigger the casual brand market in a country, the more advanced the society is as a democracy,� Yanai said then. Lately, the brand has lost its luster.

Nerd, freak. This word is also a polite way to say "your house," but in the early 1980s, it began morphing into its current, more prevalent meaning. Journalist Akio Nakamori wrote a series of articles in 1983 entitled �The Study of Otaku� (Otaku no Kenkyuu) that talked about the qualities of hardcore anime, manga and video game fans.

A light cotton robe, usually worn in summer. Blue and white yukata are standard issue at Japanese inns and hot springs resorts. Make sure the right side of the robe goes on the outside (or was it the left side?), so you won�t be mistaken for a corpse. Also, if you are new to Japan and a neighbor presents you with a yukata and tells you that everyone will be wearing one at the bon-odori festivities that night, be warned: You are definitely being set up. In fact, you may be the only one wearing a yukata, with the exception of a few elderly ladies, and you may look and feel like an idiot. Also, because you don�t really know how to wear one of these robes, you may inadvertently show way more flesh than a Japanese would � if they actually wore these robes. However, one good thing will come of all this: That night will be seared onto your memory as if it happened yesterday, not in 1986.

Korean barbecue. Cook the thin slices of meat, tongue and vegetables at your table. And don�t forget the kimchi.