Today’s article will be about jokes so buckle up. Most japanese people are not that much into sarcasm or black jokes as western people but they have their own kind of jokes based on their language: dajare (駄洒落).

The idea of dajare is that in the Japanese language, two different words can have the exact same pronunciation, only differing in the kanji sign that is used for the word. Of course, you can’t see the Kanji in a conversation so the art of dajare is mainly build on misunderstandings and “double using” a word, dajare are wordplays with a pun on similarities. 

Dajare are popular in advertising. They are also associated with Oyaji gags (親父ギャグ, “old man jokes” as they would be considered by the younger generation who isn’t into wordplays. 
Examples: 
蛙が帰る

かえるがかえるが

Kaeru ga kaeru 

The frog goes home
アルミカンにある蜜柑

あるみかんにあるみかん

Arumi kan ni aru mikan

There’s a tangerine on the aluminum can
ウランは売らん

うらんはうらん

Uran ha uran 

I never sell uranium
ニューヨークで入浴

ニューヨークでにゅうよく

Nyuyoku de nyuyoku

Taking a bath in New York 
Special example: 
パン作ったことある

Or

パンツ食ったことある 
Even though the pronunciation of those two sentences is the same, the first one means “have you ever made bred?” and the second one means “have you ever eaten pants”.
Dajare might not be hilarious to you but they’re a part of the Japanese linguistic culture and are a good and playful way to improve your Japanese! Talk to locals, we are sure they have a lot more great examples for you.