The Japan Times
Excerpt from The long Japanese love affair with foreign words, from sake to sōpurando
Some words brought to Japan by the old sailing ships had non-European origins. Kiseru (キセル, pipes for smoking with long stems and tiny bowls) that were all the rage in the Edo Period (1603-1867) derive their name from a word that originated as khsier in Cambodia. In fact, the very name of that country [Kampuchea] gave Japanese the word kabocha (かぼちゃ, pumpkin [l'pov]).
