"neko ni koban"
This is the Japanese equivalent to "Cast ye not pearls before the swine."  Roughly translated it's something like "giving gold coins to a cat."  I think I like this expression better than the biblical one.  For one thing it's slightly less judgmental -- if anything it suggests that the person who gives the coins is a bit foolish.  It might also be less spiritually oriented and more practical.  For example, it could simply mean a big waste of resources.
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Kenji talking to his chickens while putting them to bed at night:
"nigenaide, nigenaide, iiko dakara.  nanimo shinai yo.  itaitaita. nanimo shinainoni."
Roughly translated: "Don't run away, don't run away.  Good girl [literally "good child", but usually it's hens he's talking to.]  I won't do anything.  Ow ow! [Why did you do that] even though I didn't do anything?"
This is so cute when I hear it.  Kenji is a man who loves his chickens.  If he weren't in his 50s, male and married, I could fall in love with him.
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bureikou<br>
This word seems to describe a certain party attitude.  The characters "bu" meaning "not" and "rei" meaning "polite" or "manners" and "kou," meaning "gathering," come together to say "Tonight we say whatever we want, and throw manners and politeness and social structure out the window."  As far as I can tell, this usually involves alcohol.  A lot of it.  The next day, you forget about whatever was said the night before, no matter how weird, offensive, rude, or lascivious, and treat your workmates, friends, or family no differently than usual.  I'm sure that there really are rules about what's "allowed" and "not allowed," that are observed no matter how drunk people get.  But these rules are different than a westerner would be used to.  The first time I was in Japan, I went to a dinner party held by the vice-president of a small company.  During the night, this vice-president licked my ear and asked me to stay the night.  Meanwhile, another guy was asking my co-worker if he could swap his daughter for my co-worker's wife.
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mottainai<br>
According to my dictionary, this could mean anything from "not worthy" to "regrettable" to "wasteful" to "sacreligious."  But so far I've only heard it to mean wasteful.  For example, leaving a light on in a room that you're not using, is "mottainai."  Kenji grew up in very-poor post-world war 2 japan, so I think this philosophy runs pretty deep in him. Another time, after a small party, Kenji wanted to make sure a tipsy high school student didn't try to ride his motor scooter home.  He said to get killed in an accident would be "mottainai."<br>
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"ippai"<br>
Literally this means "one glass."  For example, if you're ordering a cup of coffee you might say "koohii wo ippai kudasai."  (please give me one glass of coffee.) But often it means "full"  or "a lot."  For example, "natsu wa, sagyou ga ippai"  -- in summer, there's a lot of work to do.  Or a common way to say "I'm full" during a meal is "mou ippai desu."  It's really common to hear "ippai nomou" ("let's drink one glass.") as a casual way to invite a friend to go have a drink.  This could mean literally "let's have one glass of beer together" or it could mean "let's go drink until we can't stand up."  I think the same thing happens in English with "let's go have a beer."
	This ambiguity accidently caught me off guard today.  I paid a short visit to a friend's parents, to give them some fish I bought.  In conversing, I was trying to use polite forms of speech as much as possible.  They opened a small refrigerator, to put the fish into it, and I saw that it was packed with little cans of coffee.  So I said mostly to myself "koohii ippai."  -- [the refrigerator sure is] full of coffee.  But they heard this and though I was saying (kind of gruffly) "gimme a can of coffee."  So they made a comment to each other about no coffee in America, and gave me a can.
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Showing off
	I'm realizing that it's not always good to show off any Japanese ability.  For one thing, sometimes if I say a couple sentences in ok-Japanese to someone I've just met, they tend to think that I can really speak the language, and rattle off conversation at a rate I simply can't understand.  But, if I under-play it (speak more slowly and carefully than I need to) then I'm setting the pace, and telling the person I'm not that great at Japanese, but I can understand a few things.  Then they're much more likely to use easier words, and talk slowly and clearly.  Also, it's dangerous to make people think you can speak the language better than you can -- it can lead to mis-communications or offenses taken (see "ippai" above.)
	Another great reason to downplay your ability in Japanese: people will say things about you to each other, assuming you won't understand.  Heheheheh.  A great rule of thumb: if someone you meet says "nihongo jouzu desu ne"  (Your Japanese is very good) then odds are they think you're a total beginner.  If they really thought your Japanese was good, they'd just talk to you.