From Yahoo! news:
"A practical joker has stirred up trouble by publishing a Japanese-to-English phrase book with incorrect definitions for every phrase!"
What's surprising here is not so much what has been done, but the scale on which it has been done - "At least 50,000 copies of the book have been sold in Japan in the past year", although you can no longer buy it new.
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
Article comments
1 - Craig Lyndall
Dude, I wouldn't normally criticize anyone's reporting or posting here, but you missed the punchlines. I clicked through to the site and found this. You ought to add stuff like this into your full post.
Among the nearly 2,300 incidents reported to the embassy:
A 29-year-old Tokyo man visiting San Francisco for the first time meant to ask a female store clerk, "May I please have film for my camera?" But what he actually said was, "Would you place your copious breasts in my mouth?" He was slapped in the face, then got tossed out by the manager.
Four family members from Osaka were thrilled see their favorite American singer coming out of a ritzy store in Beverly Hills. While waving frantically, they shouted out what they believed to be, "We love you so much." Unfortunately, what they really said was, "We're here to take your head." The four were arrested and detained for six hours by police.
A 45-year-old tourist from Okinawa looking for the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem thought he was asking a group of young men, "I am lost. Which way is uptown?" In reality, he said, "I know martial arts. May I kick your ass?" He was chased five blocks before being rescued by police.
2 - Eric Olsen
This is hysterical beyond belief, please feel free to quote freely, especially when the specifics are this funny!
3 - Jim Carruthers
What was the phrase for "may I fondle your buttocks"?
[monty python reference]
4 - dabitch
dang, that is one elaborate practical joke.