Will Miss #26 - humorous misspellings (reflection)

One of the experiences that happened casually that added color and humor to my days in Japan was finding places with misspelled words that carried unintended meaning. I have to say that life in America seems a lot "flatter" due to not running across such innocent signs and messages. In Japan, my husband and I would be walking along and he'd says, "look at that" and point out something funny and we'd both smile. In America, if we're walking along and he says, "look at that," there's a good chance that it's something awful, scary, or painfully inappropriate or stupid like a guy jogging on a heavily trafficked road with his dog and the dog is not on a leash. It's far more likely that we'll be cringing than smiling at random encounters.

I continue to miss the humor and innocent charm of those misspellings we not infrequently encountered in Tokyo. 

Will Miss #424 - language school advertisements

Shane? He's a little on the quiet side, and he keeps a big knife under his pillow, but I'm sure he's really a stand-up guy. 

All advertising is misleading and an attempt to use your psychological tendencies against you. If you're an insider at a business or have a lot of experience with it, the ways in which ads attempt to manipulate potential customers is far more transparent. Language school ads always pique my interest and often tickle my fancy (no pervy conclusions, please) because I've worked in this game long enough to know what's what. For one thing, they always show professionally dressed, young, attractive foreign people who look fresh and happy. Real English teachers tend to look bedraggled from spending long hours attempting to draw a few bloody words from conversational stones. The men wear their ties askew and rarely wear suit jackets because most Japanese office ladies freeze at temperatures below boiling. The teachers in the ads never resemble the real workers and I know from experience that the "students" in most ads are the most attractive office workers the company can locate. If the school is particularly wealthy, they may be actual models, but they are never real students. Finally, there are the goofy English slogans that ads sometimes come up with in order to distinguish themselves or create a hook. It's always something that makes me feel a Japanese person came up with it and insisted that it fly despite the protestations of any foreigners who had input into the ad planning process (in the rare case of a foreigner having input).

I'll miss seeing ads for English schools, their silly slogans, and their fictitious presentation of the teachers and students. 

Will Miss #375 - depictions of criminals

If all of the criminal element would just wear these types of jackets, the police would have a much easier time doing their job.

Old cartoons used to show the bad guy as having a long mustache that he twirled as he contemplated his dastardly deeds. Criminals were shown wearing striped prison outfits or were snaggle-toothed, wearing eye patches or masks, or leather-clad punks. These days, such caricatures of the criminal element are only used as a part of comedy. When such images are used with the utmost sincerity, as they are in Japan, it's a hoot. Frankly, I think if someone showed up who looked like the people who are illustrated in the warning signs in Japan, I think people would know enough to stay away from them.

I think the mask might be a small hint of trouble, but that's just me.

I'll miss seeing the criminal element being portrayed earnestly as ridiculous caricatures. 

Will Miss #374 - retro signs and artifacts

They're either channeling the world's most famous genocidal maniac or Hercules Poirot. 

One of my students recently went to France and said that one thing she noticed was that there were a lot of old buildings and reminders of old culture in Paris. She compared this to her home city, Tokyo, which is a place which seems intent on tearing down any structure that is approaching the equivalent of middle age. If buildings were people, I'd be living in the architectural equivalent of Logan's Run. Because Tokyo seems to be living in an era that believes it's better to end than mend, it's uncommon to see artifacts from the past. When I do encounter them, I have a great sense of delight at these throwbacks to Japanese culture from bygone days. Often, what I'm seeing are reproductions of old signs, but occasionally I'll come across a genuine antique (like a wooden Meiji milk box someone hasn't gotten around to ripping out and throwing away and replacing it with one of the sterile plastic ones that are all too common).

I'll miss these rare, beautiful and interesting bits of retro Japanese culture.

Will Miss #125 - happy marketing messages

It's very common to see messages written in English with words like "happy", "joyful", and "pleasant". There's a condom machine near our house which has the message, "for your happy family life." I'm not sure how these come across to Japanese people, but they always strike me as innocent and meant to encourage people to have a good experience in their mundane endeavors.

I'll miss seeing these happy, joyful, pleasant messages.

Will Miss #91 - initials with a different cross-cultural meaning

I occasionally buy a packet of nutritional supplements which has "Ca and VD" on the front of it. The "VD" isn't venereal disease, but vitamin D, but the initials always bring syphilis and gonorrhea to mind. There are a lot of cases where the Japanese use of initials is completely innocent, but comes across very differently to me. One of the most common ones is "K.Y." You see it on shirts and mentioned in ads and signs. For us, "KY" brings to mind a certain brand of lubricant which is frequently used in various sex acts. Seeing a sign that says "I (heart) KY" brings about a sly smile. (K.Y., incidentally, means kakkoi (cool) and yasui (cheap) in Japan.)

I'll miss the innocent use of initials which carries a more salacious sense back home.

Will Miss #34 - Japanese political advertisments

Japanese political advertisements are often a source of amusement for both my husband and I. Someone, somewhere who designs a portion of these things believes that horribly staged, ridiculous poses convey the notion that one should elect these people to positions of power.

I'll miss these funny political posters.

Will Miss #26 - humorous misspellings

I've seen pictures of plenty of misspelled signs in America, but they don't carry the same charm as those in Japan. In America, it's just sad that people aren't educated enough to spell basic words properly. In Japan, it's smile-worthy in the same way that a child misspeaking a word can be. It's an innocent error based on language differences rather than a product of ignorance and laziness.

I'll miss the humor and charm of the misspelled words in Japan.

Will Miss #14 - (literal) global perspective shift

Every once in awhile, I'll run across something small and fairly mundane which illustrates beautifully that we're all subtly steered toward a particular mindset as a result of the environment we grow up in. Every map you see printed in a textbook or on a wall map in America shows the U.S. and Europe prominently. In Japan, the globe is shifted so that Japan is the center of view.

I'll miss these little reminders that we all grow up subtly educated in the idea that we are the center of everything.