And now it was a month later and Mr Tanaka had become ‘Tiger’ and Commander Bond had become ‘Bondo-san.’ Tiger had explained his name for James Bond. ‘James,’ he had said. ‘That is a difficult work in Japanese. And it does not convey sufficient respect. Bond-san is too much like the Japanese word bonsan, which means a priest, a greybeard. The hard consonants at the end of “Bond” are also not easy for the Japanese, and when these occur in a foreign word we add an O. So you are Bondo-san. That is acceptable?’
bonsan‘Does Bondo mean a pig or anything like that in Japanese?’
‘No. It has no meaning.’
‘Forgive my asking. The Japanese seem to enjoy many private jokes at the expense of the gaijin. I referred the other day to a friend of mine called “Monkey” McCall whom we used to call “Munko.”
