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I recently discovered that the mascot for テレビ[塔]{とう} is テレビ[父]{とう}さん.

Answering whether this was a deliberate pun is probably impossible, but I'd
like to know, in general, is it common to replace one kanji with a homophonic
kanji for the purposes of punning?
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2013-01-28T08:16:25.873
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2013-01-28T16:15:38.443
91
question
homophonic-kanji puns
Is punning with homophonic kanji common?
I think it's pretty common, although not necessarily punning so much as just a
play-on-words. I can't remember but a couple right now. I'll edit in more
later if I remember them.

>   * 委員会【いいんかい】の許可を得た。びっくりして「いいんかい？」と答えた。 → I got the committee's permission.
> Surprised, I responded "(Is it) Really (OK)?".
>   * A major station I used to frequent had a nearby building called "Sun
> Plaza" written as さんぷら座, as seen here on Google street view:
> [京阪線枚方市駅](https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=34.81634,135.649867&spn=0.01138,0.015128&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=34.816433,135.650047&panoid=FgQ62fZxkdwx67NkeH4d9g&cbp=12,251.11,,0,-14.17)
>
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2013-01-28T16:15:38.443
11068
2013-01-28T16:15:38.443
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answer