Japanese Homophones

Interestingly, some of these were coined during the Second World War, when the Japanese government tried to crack down on the use of western loan words. They called those words 敵性語 "enemy/hostile words"

Is there a kanji term for golf?

Strangely there are 2 versions 打球　だきゅう 孔球　こうきゅう

I've been told by Americans like "Baseball is called BEESUBOORU in Japan, right?" So I had to say, "No we almost never say that! We call it Yakyuu. That's a Japanese word for baseball."

I have always wondered why they called it Yakyuu and not Ruikyu, since Rui (塁) is the word they use for the bases.

I've heard that although Ruikyuu had originally been suggested, Yakyuu gained popularity after Masaoka Shiki, a famous poet and a big fan of baseball, used the word. Yakyuu means "ballgame in the field" and the airy feel of the word was widely accepted by people then&there.

When I was a kid, putting four sweaters or coats down as goalposts was enough to turn any field into a soccer pitch, so I suppose that makes sense.

Another interesting point (and one that helps to explain abbreviated newspaper headlines) is the kanji versions of country names (many being the same as in Chinese): 独 西 葡 仏 英 伊 蘭 露 米 加 越 中 韓 泰 印 豪