J-Word Play: Coffee of the Dead

It's been a while, but I wanted to share a new riddle that I came up with (I don't know how original it is; could be that this already exists in some other wording). I've decided to do away with the dual posts and just include the question and answer in one. This way those of you who just want to know don't have to wait a week. Here we go:

死んでからコーヒーを飲む所とは何でしょう？
(しんでからコーヒーをのむところとはなんでしょう？)

Answer: 冥土カフェ or 冥土喫茶
(Meido Cafe)

To figure this one out, you need to know a little bit about the Buddhist afterlife in the Chinese/Japanese tradition. The mythology says that after one dies, they go on to an underground gauntlet of sorts, where they have to endure all sorts of pains and trials as they make their way to reincarnation or hell. It seems that there are variations on the specifics of this journey and its exact nature, but this is the long and short. In Japanese, this purgatory is called 冥土 (Meido). As you're probably aware, there are also novelty cafes in Japan where one can find servers dressed as maids. These are quite aptly called "maid cafes." Both "maid" and "Meido" share the same pronunciation - 「メイド」.

It's society's fault...

Just another picture of the day 9/20/09

I'm not quite sure this product is exactly what it claims to be.

Just another picture of the day 8/20/09

Start your day the right way: Deeppresso