var grammar = {
	BracedText : new RegExp('\{.*\}')
};

$(function() {
$('td.kanji').each(function() {

	// get text is in curly-braces, abort if nothing
	var sentence = $(this).text();
	var $bracedText = sentence.match(grammar.BracedText);
	if ($bracedText === null) return;
	var bracedText = $bracedText[0].substr(1,$bracedText[0].length-2);

	// replace curly-braced text with a span, which serves as an insertion point
	sentence = sentence.replace(grammar.BracedText,'<span></span>');

	// find first link, clone it
	var link = $(this).closest('tr').find('a:first').clone();

	// change the link text to what was in the curly braces
	link.text(bracedText);

	//insert the new html
	$(this).html(sentence).find('span').append(link);
});
});

I can't help thinking that good use of jQuery & Javascript must use extensive comments

Can Good jQuery/Javascript not have lots of comments?

jquery

jQuery