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In English, "Pearl Harbor" is sometimes used metaphorically to indicate an unannounced attack, or an event that strongly changes the outlook of a community. Can these metaphorical meanings be used in Japanese with either "真珠湾" or "パールハーバー"? For example, "This action was no Pearl Harbor - we knew it was going to happen"?

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No, and Kamikaze either, which is synonymous to 天佑 or something like miraculous fortune unless they're it's used as a loan word.

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  • Kamikaze being used in a loan word like "神風タクシー"?
    – Andrew Grimm
    Sep 19, 2015 at 7:59
  • What's that?...I mean when we refer to foreign usages.
    – user4092
    Sep 19, 2015 at 9:17
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    a description of kamikaze taxis during the 1964 Olympics - theolympians.co/2015/06/09/…
    – Andrew Grimm
    Sep 19, 2015 at 9:34
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    Such usage of kamikaze/banzai as an adjective meaning "suicidal, reckless" is unique to English, I think.
    – naruto
    Sep 19, 2015 at 10:01

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