Signage

A cultural phenomenon here is English written for the Japanese public. You see it everywhere - on the subway, on city streets, on the T-shirts folk wear. ("The nature that/It blooms cheerfully/Magnificently") And on commercial products, like, the bottle of sweetened tea I bought: "Please enjoy our sweetness without reservation."

The letters, words, and phrases are English. The meaning may be slightly askew. Doesn't matter. It ain't for English-speakers anyway. But it does provide some entertainment for English-readers.

"This chop of becoming beautiful"

This is the name of a chain of used media - books, CDs, DVDs, etc. I understand that there's a comparable store for hardware, called "Hard-off."

The "Italian Dog Food" sign caught my eye. Then I found out that this restaurant really does serve Italian dog food to dogs.

But the best signage I saw was from a bus. It was a big cement factory. On it's tower was the painted sign, "Oops!" (subtitle is almost as good: "Concrete Basics for Life." Nothing "askew" about that one!) But the "Oops!" title has gotta be for the Japanese public. Can't imagine hiring a concrete company doing any work for me with the name, "Oops!" (On the other hand, we can hope that it's an acronym.)