Gemba vs. Genba -- Different Spellings or Different Words and Meanings?

Blog post A Question -- Email From a Listener: But I was prompted to think about this recently when I received an email from a podcast listener: "So I heard an interesting distinction between Gemba and Genba today. The M version is a place of work The N version is a place of investigation (used by Japanese police). So you go to the place of work before you go to the place of investigation." Hmmm. I had never heard that. So I thought I'd do a little research and check with friends who have varying levels of Japanese language skills.