Famously, or maybe rather infamously, bukkake is a word with a more general meaning and another very particular, sexual meaning.
The former refers to splashing and is often used to mean cold noddles with broth poured over them.
The latter, as readers to this blog will no doubt already know, means ejaculating on a sexual partner’s body (especially the face). A very different kind of splash indeed.
If you were to order a bowl of bukkake udon in Japan, no one would snigger, since the general meaning is still common. But “bukkake” as a sex term has gained precedence internationally, regardless of any relation to Japanese porn, and has become a search term or descriptor online. Whereas the original, innocent meaning is much less known outside of foodie circles.
So Marugame America, the Stateside subsidiary of the noodles restaurant giant in Japan, took the recent step of renaming its bukkake udon dish as “B.K.” udon and “BK sauce” (at least for its California menu).
While this perhaps saves a few red faces among customers and restaurant staff, it doesn’t actually explain what “BK” stands for. Needless to say, using the acronym when you order in Japan is not going to work.
It’s not clear quite exactly when this change took place but an California-based Japanese Twitter user pointed it out yesterday and it seems the menu still listed “bukkake” udon until at least early 2019.
