{"id":1025,"date":"2008-12-13T22:16:10","date_gmt":"2008-12-13T13:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2008-12-13\/1025"},"modified":"2008-12-13T22:16:10","modified_gmt":"2008-12-13T13:16:10","slug":"japanese-shirts-and-nonsensical-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2008-12-13\/1025","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Shirts and Nonsensical English"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n“A camera<\/span> is a device<\/span> used to capture images”<\/span>\nas still photographs\n<\/div>\n\n

For reasons that I don't fully understand, shirts with English on them\nare extremely common in Japan. I think<\/span> it's considered “cool”. It's been this<\/span> way\nsince before I first<\/span> came 20 years ago.<\/p>\n\n

Sometimes what is written is a bit odd or silly, like the shirt above,\non a lady<\/span> watching a magic<\/span> show (at Blume no\nOka<\/i><\/a>).<\/p>\n\n

Most often, though, what is written makes absolutely no sense.   At all.  \nBut that's okay, because most of the population doesn't have the ability to\nrealize that it makes no sense, so everyone remains stylish and happy.<\/p>\n\n

Here's a representative one I recently came across at Kyoto Station:<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n10<\/span>\nEvery day starts<\/i>\nI AM<\/span> GENTLE AND ONLY THE MOST\nPAINFUL TIME IS GENTLE\nTO THE PERSON<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Really, that's very typical.<\/p>\n\n

I have to believe that it's done on purpose, because it's rarely\n“Japlish”, the kind of mistaken English that a Japanese<\/span> speaker is likely\nto produce when they attempt English. I think<\/span> the more likely explanation\nhere is a large<\/span> quantity of psychedelic drugs at the nations clothiers.<\/p>\n\n

Here's one sported by a guy sitting in front of us at an outdoor free concert in May:<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 18-200mm f\/3.5-5.6 VR @ 31 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1500 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nFUTURISTIC ENGLISHNESS<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I asked him (in Japanese) whether he knew what it meant, and it turns\nout that he hadn't even really ever looked at the text or even noticed\nthat there was text<\/i>. He bought<\/span> the shirt, he said, because he liked the\ncolor and style.<\/p>\n\n

Since he couldn't tell me what it meant, I remain<\/span> unenlightened, but perhaps\nit's somehow a presage<\/span> for how future generations will speak...<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For reasons that I don't fully understand, shirts with English on them are extremely common in Japan. I think it's considered \"cool\". It's been this way since before I first came 20 years ago.<\/p>

Sometimes what is written is a bit odd or silly, like the shirt above, on a lady watching a magic show (at Blume no Oka).<\/p>

Most often, though, what is written makes absolutely no sense.   At all.   But that's okay, because most of the population doesn't have the ability to realize that it makes no sense, so everyone remains stylish and happy.<\/p>

Here's a representative one [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

This is common in Japan, but not limited to Japan: my wife has some\nshirts with nonsensical English on them, but she got them all in The\nStates, at American Eagle\nOutfitters<\/a>. She didn't know\/care what they said... only that they were\nstylish.<\/p>\n\n