Wednesday search challenge (12/18/13): What's that word again? The challenge of cross-cultural search

One of the biggest search challenges I face is finding something that captures an idea in another culture that's uniquely within that culture.  

While many of the ideas, concepts, and words we use to talk about the world are shared between cultures (the color red, for example, is pretty much a universal), some are not, but are embedded with a particular cultural context.  And in particular, those ideas are usually captured in a bit of language.  

For example, in languages that have a formal and an informal voice (such as tu vs. Usted in Spanish; du vs. Sie in German, etc.), there is usually a word to express the concept "I'd like to address you using the informal voice."  This doesn't really exist in English.  The closest English comes to this concept is the phrase "we're on a first-name basis."  By contrast, Spanish has a perfectly good verb for this:  tutear, which means to shift from formal to informal (that is, from Usted to tu).  

As a consequence, it's sometimes difficult to search for concepts and ideas that aren't native to your own culture and language.  Why?  Because you don't know where to start.  Luckily, I learned tutear years ago, so I don't have to search for it.  

But that leads me to today's Search Challenge.  Here's my true story of another cultural search puzzle... 


I spoke with a Japanese friend several years ago about what it's like to be a writer in Japan.  She told me about this really interesting cultural practice that takes place (apparently) exclusively in Japan.  

If an author is under contract to write a book for a publishing house, and the writer hasn't really produced the book by the due date of the contract, the publishing house can spirit that person away and keep them in a hotel room (effectively under house arrest) until they finish writing the book.

That cultural practice struck me.  Can this really be true?  

I've checked.  Yes, it's really true. But I had a bit of a tricky time figuring out what this practice is called.  Can you figure out what it is? 

Today's challenge: 

1.  What's the Japanese term for a publisher taking a writer out of their life and secreting them away in a hotel until they've completed writing the book that they're obligated to write?  

As you know, once you have the specific term for a complex idea, it's much easier to do subsequent searches.  Question is.. how do you get started?  

Once you've found the answer, be sure to let us know HOW you found it!  (What search terms did you try... especially the paths that didn't work.)  What we're trying to learn in this challenge is the skill of cross-cultural search.  

So, as you search, keep track of what you've attempted and how long (roughly) you spent.  Today's challenge isn't a race, but being aware of how long you're spending on a particular search strategy is a useful skill to have. 

Let us know how you do.  (And if you happen to know it because you lived in Japan, that's great too.  Just let us know!)  

Search on!