Whether you are visiting or living in Japan it won’t take long for you to realize that there is a fascination with the English language here. You will actually see a lot of English on advertising, clothing and stationery in Japan but they don’t always get it right. It’s a good thing that the advertising for this prominent pizza company put a picture behind the headline otherwise it may have taken me a while to figure out what “mashrooms” were.

Most Japanese students complete six years of mandatory English classes during the course of their education. The majority of this education is focused on reading and writing with relatively little practice on the oral aspect of the language or, apparently, the grammar and spelling component. Below are some examples of some uses of the English language in my neighborhood.

If I had a toothache I would definitely want to go to the clinic below and not a contaminated one.

But if I had an itch and I needed some medicine I’m not sure that I would wear a t-shirt for “It’s No. 1 Brand of Anti Itching Medicine” that claims to “Attack for Itching!!!!!!!!”. Wearing this t-shirt probably wouldn’t get you many dates back home or anywhere for that matter.

The t-shirt below boasts that the “Japan Character” is “dedicated to those with an indibidual personality like yours.” I like to think that I am a unique individual but I’m not sure if I want to be that indibidual?

If you don’t believe me yet just check out the instructions and warnings printed on packages in the store. I purchased a lighter the other day and here was the first line of the ‘directions’:

“It is only for the ignition of the cigarette. Please never do the usage that causes other fire and burn.”

Granted the lighters were made in China so maybe this was a Chinese translation into Japanese and then on to English. But it was successful as I got the point even though the wording was a little off.

I could go on and on but I will end by telling you about the young man on a train platform that caught my eye. He was sloppily dressed with spiky hair and a messenger bag slung over his shoulder with the words “Good for Nothing” printed boldly on the side. I don’t know about you but I’m pretty sure that I don’t know anyone in an English speaking country that would carry that bag around.

Maybe he would like some mashroooms on his pizza?

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