This paper aims to give a comparative analysis of the six POD editions on the basis of the Japanese words adopted into them. There have been many words borrowed from Japanese into English. For example, bonze and sake2 were naturalized in English a long time ago.The new 1992 edition of The Pocket Oxford Dictionary contains 39 Japanese words, some of which are futon, ikebana and sumo. But, needless to say, karaoke must be one of the latest examples we can see in English dictionaries that are of Japanese origin.
The first edition of the POD contained only twelve Japanese words, and most of them are now still alive. It is quite natural that the original editors should have thought of the words which had an exotic atmosphere as important. According to 'Preface to the Seventh Edition,' however, the editors were prepared to emphasize 'clarity and ease of use.' The eighth edition undoubtedly took the aims of the seventh edition towards 'making information easier to find and easier to understand.'
Then, has the POD changed much not only in the choice of the Japanese words but in the description of their meanings and etymology in its eight editions? Of course, it is very difficult to decide which words to select and which to delete, for the choice of vocabulary so often characterizes the dictionary itself.