Yes! I was amazed several years ago after I had learnt the word 班長 (hanchō)… and a while later realised it sounded a bit like the phrase ‘head honcho’…and then

Yes! I was amazed several years ago after I had learnt the word 班長 (hanchō)… and a while later realised it sounded a bit like the phrase ‘head honcho’…and then realised that that’s actually where it came from. There are lot of words ending in 長 (chō) in Japanese that refer to people in positions of leadership: shachō (company director), kōchō (headmaster), kichō (captain, of an aircraft). Another somewhat surprising example of unexpected Japanese etymology: ‘rickshaw’ comes from the Japanese 人力車 (jin-rikisha, literally “person-powered-car”). I would’ve probably expected it to have come from an Indian language, or something.