Was the song "Turning Japanese" really about

[Bertha Venation]

masturbation and prison?

no sex, no drugs, no wine, no women
no fun, no sin, no you, no wonder it's dark
everyone around me is a total stranger
everyone avoids me like a cyclone ranger
everyone

[Taverner]

1. Yep. Jerkin it in jail.

[Arugula Latte]

2. Yes indeed.

I've got your picture, I've got your picture
I'd like a million of them all round my cell
I want the doctor to take a picture
So I can look at you from inside as well

May I add -- what a catchy tune!

[Miles Archer]

3. Why, yes. Yes it was.

Remember when Miley cyrus got into that "controversy" over posting a Twitter pic of herself with "Asian eyes?"

Same premise. That's the "Japanese" part...squinting and making "Asian eyes" while furiously masturbating.

Tasteless, offensive, racist, and a true story. That's what the song is about.

[Ptah]

4. the song's author Fenton denied that claim

"Turning Japanese" was believed to euphemistically refer to masturbation—i.e. the act causing the man to squint and therefore resemble a Japanese's person's eyes or possibly, referencing the British slang word "Jap's eye" (the slit of the penis) and the act of turning referring to the process of masturbation—but the song's author Fenton denied that claim in an interview on VH1. "It could have been (turning) Portuguese, Lebanese, anything that fitted with that phrase. It has nothing to do with the Japanese." "The first time the idea of masturbation came up was when we were touring America. It was written about that 'turning Japanese' was an English phrase for masturbation, which it wasn't."

Guitarist Rob Kemp went on to say, "It's a love song about somebody who had lost their girlfriend and was going slowly crazy, turning Japanese is just all the cliches of our angst... turning into something you never expected to."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_Japanese

[Arugula Latte]

7. I recall nobody really bought his denial.

[Nevernose]

9. Yeah, and Paul McCartney claimed Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Wasn't about LSD.

[BootinUp]

5. What a twisted interpretation. lol.

[tenderfoot]

6. I always thought it was a weak song in general...

and never got the appeal regardless of the topic.

[mockmonkey]

8. There are no doubts in Cyndi Lauper's She Bop

I especially like the "Self Service" sign.

[Revanchist]

10. I've always had a thing for the "unconventional" females

Cyndi, Sinead, Annie Lennox, Grace Jones, Aimee Mann, Siouxsie Sioux... When I was a young lad these were the types that I was attracted to, not the standard pin-up girl. The fact that they were very talented didn't hurt either.

[orleans]

11. i never never never thought it was about that

i always thought it was just a fun song to dance to.