85. Italian Tomato Cafe sign. “A delicious dish is many.” I assume the sign refers to the fact that there are many dishes on the menu. Or perhaps the restaurant manager is a student of philosophy, and is making a deeper statement? たぶん「メニューに美味しい食事が数多く備えています」という意味でしょう。しかし、書き方のおかげで、哲学的なニュアンスが含まれている。店長さんが哲学者かもしれません。
84. Cookie Wrapper. No explanation of the product other than the title “And Tomorrow.” Small print: “Succeeding the traditional good taste, we go to the tomorrow.” クッキーラッパー。味、などの説明が書かれていません。タイトル＝And tomorrow。だから「明日も」という意味でしょうか？
83. Restaurant sign at Ikebukuro Station’s Lumine. “Precious” is a word I’ve not before seen used in conjunction with food. I suppose a baby could be precious, as can a jemstone. But probably not a cheese dish. ルミネ池袋のレストラン看板。この店のドリアが美味しいことを宣言しているようです。しかし、辞書によると”Precious”＝尊い、貴重な、高価な、など。だから、この店が提供するのは「尊い料理」だそうです。食べに行きましょう！
82. Cake wrapper. You can always count on the wrapping paper of sweets for frothy English. This one tells us “Chiba’s abundant nature for the many occasions to offer the feeling to the loved ones. Boyodo, the taste of home, Our professional confectioners make delicious cakes with carefully selected ingredients.” Ah ah! It begins to make sense around halfway through. 色々な包装紙は楽しい英語を使っています。”Our professional…”まで書かれている事は無意味に近い文書です。意味よりルックス、でしょう、ね。
81. Yell Dental Clinic. Now there’s a dentist I’ll avoid – forever! 歯科の看板（要町駅周辺）。エールは英語のYALEというつもりだったのではないか、と思います。つまりエール大学のエール？しかし小さい丸の中のローマ字を見ると、YELLとなっています。YALE = 人名、YELL＝叫ぶ。Oh NO!
80. Warning sign in a Tokyo park. Apparently they were having trouble with the crows. The Japanese says “beware of the crows above.” The English is far more delicate, simply suggesting we note the existence of the crows. And then? 日本語の意味を英語で伝えたい場合、”BEWARE of crows”がいいでしょう。しかし、NOTEを使う場合、「カラスを見てください」、とか「カラスを認識してください」のようなソフトなニュアンスになってしまいます。
79. Afternoon Tearoom menu cover. No English problem here, but one wonders why we need to know that “a pot full of tasty tea, surrounded by blissful sweets and breads straight from the oven, with sandwiches and pastas full of character. Heartfelt services in a haven. Tea to spice your afternoon, a timeless suggestion from Afternoon Tea TEAROOM.” Just bring my scone! 正しい英語ですが、なぜ店のメニューの表紙にこういう長い英語の文書を載せる必要性があるのでしょうか？早くスコーンを出して下さい、よ！
78. Warning sign at shopping mall steps. “Please be careful to steps.” Meaning, don’t trod too hard? Perhaps it was be nice to steps week? ショッピングモールの階段で見つけた英語。正しい表現に近いですが、”careful TO steps”＝階段に優しく、ね。又は、階段を大事にして下さい。
77. Ice cream vending machine. “Good taste, health and happiness with the angel, the messenger of happiness as our symbol we have contributed to a richer life.” Guess you can’t argue with that if you are an ice cream lover. アイスクリームの自動販売機。アイス・クリームを食べれば、豊かな人生が得られる、と宣言しています。素晴らしい自動販売機です、ね。
76. A bank sign. I didn’t realize that the “Incubator Bank” was an actual institution until noticing this sign. Not funny English per se, but an odd thing to call a bank, isn’t it? 銀行の看板。文法的にはおかしくないですが、意味はちょっと。Incubator = 孵卵器。ということは、入金すれば、卵のようにお金を育ててくれる銀行ですか？
75. Sinful apartment building in my neighborhood. 近所の罪深いマンション。
Across the street from Nichidai Hospital in Oyama is this sinful apartment building. I fear to walk by it – might I be tempted by the sin inside? What sort of depraved monsters live here? Shall we get serious for a moment? Perhaps they meant to write Shin-City (新シティー, new city), but left the h out. Not as much fun, though, is it. I’ll stick with the depraved residence theory.
日本大学大谷口病院のよこにあるマンション。SIN＝罪なので、中に住んでいる方々はどういう風な生活をしているでしょうか？あるいは、SIN=罪ではなく、SHIN（新）？ありえる説明ですが、パッと見たとき驚きますよ。
74. Cake shop in my neighborhood. 近所のケーキ屋。
Pretty simple notion: Let’s Chiffon. Maybe it’s an idea for a movie? Shall we dance? Shall we Chiffon? Yes, let’s Chiffon together. Chiffoning by one’s self is so dismal.
日本人が大好きな言葉である「LET’S」。「しましょう」という意味です、ね。それじゃ、Chiffon（ケーキの種類）をしましょう、よ！日本語的にはおかしくないかもしれませんが、英語の場合、動詞が必要。たとえば、Let’s EAT chiffon,など。
71-73. Niigata English. 新潟の英語
A recent trip to Niigata revealed a unique flavor of English. The following were found at the Niigata Historical Museum. At this museum you are:
1. not allowed to SMORK. (absolutely no NO SMORKING allowed. You there! Are you smorking in that corner? )
2. encouraged to THROW a 100 yen coin. (throw it where? why?? in REPAYMENT for what???)
3. not to THROUGH. (not throw? not to go through? A verb would be welcome here)
70. Desktop publication company sign. DTPデザイン会社。
Meet Your Demand. We Support DTP and crossmedia Totally And Supply Various And One To One Service in Spite of Analog of Digital Media for 24 Hours.
Try to read that company slogan in a single breath!
69. Japanese restaurant sign. 日本料理店の看板。
Here is a sign for the Japanese restaurant Ohgen. Apparently customers must strive to please the staff, rather than the other way round. Modern Japanese dining OHGEN. We try our best to make our customers satisfy…
日本料理のOHGENというレストランの看板です。このお店の方針がとてもユニークです。お客さんを満足させることではなく、お客さんが店員を満足できるように働くらしいです。(”Make our customers satisfy.”)
68. Encouraging drink machine message. ドリンク自動販売機のメッセージ
Canned beverage makes you refresh. We carefully did the best selection. They are outstanding among the others.” 直訳すると、「カンドリンクによってあなたはリフレッシュされる。私達は一流の選択をした。彼らは他より素晴らしい。」
67. Snake Cream ～ 蛇クリーム（！）
Sorry, I couldn’t snap a photo of this ointment as the store where I found it prohibited photography. Take my word, this is something you should run out and buy. “Snake Cream. It’s in gredient (sic) was passed. Tradition from generation to generation.” What I want to know is whether or not the ingredient was passed through the snake’s body – who cares about the generation to generation bit!
残念ながらこのアイテムの写真がありません。店内写真禁止だったので、言葉で言います。 “Snake Cream. It’s in gredient (sic) was passed. Tradition from generation to generation.” Ingredient was passed = 原料は通りました（蛇の体を？）
66. Tea of Pot ～ プラスチック・ティーポット
I was looking around in a second hand shop the other day and stumbled across this 200 yen treasure. It is a plastic pitcher with the title “Tea of Pot,” plus the phrase “o-a-sis my life has been improved.” By the pot tea? I suppose a jug of pot tea would improve one’s mood…
先日リサイクルショップで買った２００円のプラスチックポットです。買った理由は？すばらしい英語がついているからです。TEA OF POT. ティーはわかります、ね。しかし、スラングではポット＝大麻ですよ。ということは、この大麻ティーを飲めば人生が改良される、と言う意味です。(my liｆe has been improved).
65. Beauty Parlour in Ikebukuro ～ 池袋の美容院
Ah, the English of beauty establishments. Always something to be found. Here we have a new service, that of “cuting.” If you don’t feel cute enough, you can drop by for a recharge (of your cuteness level). Or you could just skip the cute and get entirely new skin (see No. 63 below).
美容院英語が大好きです。美容院の看板は普通１つ以上、面白い発見があります。今回”cuting”という言葉があります。おそらく「カット」というつもりだったでしょうが、t が１つ抜けている結果、「さらに可愛くなるサービスというニュアンスになってしまいます。
64. Store near Mejiro Station: Mono Sick Studio.
目白駅周辺の雑貨
Usually one can figure out what the people who design unique English had in mind. This time I’m stumped – what would this apparently pleasant store featuring Asian clothing be trying to say to the passerby?
普段はちょっと頭を使えば、人が何をいいたいかがわかります。今回、私は本当にわかりません。おしゃれ系の雑貨ですが、看板＝Mono Sick Studio. MONO＝短核細胞症の略です。そして、SICK＝病気。スタジオ＝芸術家の仕事場。合わせると「短核細胞症的な仕事場？インフルエンザがはやっている現在の中で、この店名はちょっと気になります。
63. Massage Parlour “REFLESH PRO” マッサージの店
Tired of that old skin? Well pop into “Reflesh Pro” and get “refleshed.” The new skin presumably fits better than that old saggy stuff you’re currently wearing.
現在の自分の皮膚に疲れましたか？REFLESH PROに行けば皮膚を張り替えるようです。少なくても、看板をそのまま読めばこういう印象を受けます（RE＝再、FLESH=皮膚）。もう１度、若者の皮膚に戻ってみませんか？
62. Fruit Wrapper ～ フルーツラッピングペパー
This wrapping paper came with some delicious fruit from Chiba prefecture. The idea seems to be to keep you laughing while you eat the fruit, thereby doubling your pleasure. “When is good for a eating? Even if it is early or is slow it is not possible to eat. You smell tempt me. I do not know whether your are sweet. The taste is the enjoyment after it eat.”
61. Warning posted in the Sunshine City shopping area of Tokyo.
豊島区のサンシャイン・シティーで発見した看板。
The Japanese makes perfect sense – this building is under special watch during the holiday season. In English they lose the context and just warn us that “it” is being watched. Your wallet?
日本語のメセージが分かりやすいけど、英語の場合は”It’s”＝「それ」。と言うことは「それが見られています」、と言う意味でしょうか？何が見られていますか？買い物客の財布？
60. Apartment flyer ～ マンションの新聞広告
Wow – this sounds great! Life in a huge asian city, yet surrounded by nature. What would you pay for that? Wait a minute!! This is by my house – where are they hiding the nature?
素晴らしい！巨大都市の中心部にあるマンションにもかかわらず”rich nature”に囲まれています。都心＋自然＝ワンダフルコンビです、ね。ちょっと待って！このマンションが私の住まいに近いですよ。その大自然はどうやって隠したんでしょうか？
Smooth connections among the city center, nature and family life
Seeking the richness that is essential to us, we have now found this place.
Kotake mukaehara – a city surrounded by rich nature and an educational atmosphere,
is now attracting attention through the opening of the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line.
Enjoy the four seasons even living near the heart of the city and spend everyday life full of expectations.
This city depicts garden city concepts of the 21st century.
Metropolitan Seasons – an irreplaceable urban life starts here.
59. Castella cake wrapper ～ カステラの箱.
Here is a story about a brave little piece of sponge cake that traveled across the sea from Spain to Nagasaki.
小さな小さなカステラが勇気を持ってヨーロッパから日本にやってきました。（桃太郎や一寸法師を思い出します、ね）。是非このケーキを食べてみたいです。
It is the confectionary said that sponge cake was brought to Japan by the missionaries of Portugal about the middle of the 16th century. Moreover, spongecake travels in a long distance across the sea and has accomplished various change until it is completed as the present “Nagasaki Kasutera” It is said that the confectionery which can also be called the root is in Spain and Portugal which divide the southwest in Europe and the Iberian Penninsula in two.
58. Melon pudding wrapper.
Melon is the prince of fruit. The lovely and elegant smell will make you feel better. No problem grammar-wise. I do wonder just how the elegant smell of melon pudding will make one feel better.
57. Date book cover. “Inspiration comes of working”
The purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others. Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature. Life is an exciting business and most exciting when it is lived for others. You cannot do much about the length of your life, but you can do a lot about its depth and width. Well! That is a heavy message to look at day in and day out as you use your date book. The English is perfectly fine – the context for the message is the interesting part.
56. Cruise ship toilet sign.
After of use, keep pushing the rebar that pours water long. Please do not throw into the toilet excluding the equipment paper. I found this on a Tokyo Bay cruise ship. Lucky thing I had my camera with me in the toilet! Just remember, keep pushing the rebar that pours water long!
55. Ranking Ranqueen – a store in the Ikebukuro Station, Tokyo
For real media producing sympathy of newage. For a selling channel between goods having the support of a number of people and newly born goods. For a factory of information. For new module of business. Selected shop Tokyu offers – RanKing RanQueen. The password is “What’s up! What’s new!” http://www.ranking-ranqueen.net/ About all one can gather from this store sign is that the place is probably run by the Tokyu company, and that they sell things inside. Especially things that are “newage.”
54. Beauty Parlour Sign in Musashino-City, Tokyo
The ripple that aims at the previous sweetness always sends the global environment & latest information is sent for the idea your health and beauty every day. We can deduce the fact that this is a beauty parlor, as it’s signboard clearly states “Plan Do Hair Ripple.” What exactly the rest of the frothy statement means is any one’s guess.
Ripple beauty salon
53. Wall signs near Osaka’s Hankyu Umeda Station.
This wonderful series of signs was found in an underpass near the above-mentioned station. It crosses under train lines and the artwork will probably disappear once construction finishes in the area. See it while you can. The Japanese text relates the story of Issum Boshi (a sort of Japanese Tom Thumb). But the translations are so wonderfully wacky they ought to be preserved for future generations. The texts are too long to comment on, so please click on the thumbs to get a full-sized view. Enjoy Japanese folk culture through an English filter!
52. T-shirt 1, rear view.
Pretty self-explanatory, except for what meaning the creator wished to convey to the viewer.
51. Tank top, front and rear views.
Presumably no meaning intended?
50. Shochu (Japanese liquor) bottle label.
The designers of this label got carried away with the beauty of the drink – must have been sampling as they wrote. This is a long one – got your reading glasses on?
Silvery water. I see on the surface of the water shining in silver. The shuffled dance of lights that brings up delight to your mind. This art of wheat must be a gift from God. By reserving the light inside of it, the water gains the magic to shine in silver. When I look for the origin of joy, my thoughts reach as far as this one drip of water. This innocent unprocessed liquor is Spirit of the Creator. We see here is the origin of soul. So let me tell you. This very thing is the origin of Silvery Water. Tonight again, I tell the story to myself and to my friends. When you play in this supreme fragrance of dream You can free your mind.
WOW!
49. Miu Sportswater label.
I often think people wouldn’t consume products like this if they read and understood the English labels. Here is 2000 old water from the bottom of the ocean. You want to drink something bottom fish and sea worms swim around in? It’s healthy!
Miu Sportswater is a sport drink which uses Moroto deep seawater that has settled at the bottom of the ocean having become cold and heavy, and which spends about 2000 years circulating the world’s oceans.
48. Gunma Chocolate wrapper. 群馬チョコレートの表紙。
This is one of my all-time favorites. Zen-like sparse phrases commenting on the joy of eating chocolate. Many good cacaos of the quality were used. It is the rich taste of the smell. This is the chocolate using fresh and rich milk. The craftsman selected materials carefully one by one and made them. Please have at the time of tea.
47. Kobeya bakery tray. 神戸屋（パン屋）のトレー。
We wish all the time to be able to provide you fresh bread and to propose you a joy of eating life with bread.
46. An apartment building in Tokyo: The SOB building. 板橋区にあるマンション。
One hopes it is not a comment on the type of people who live there. 英語の略語で、かなり悪い侮辱です。英語国民の方ならこのビルに住みたくないでしょう。
45. A building in Tokyo: ASS Building No. 3. 東京川越街道に面しているビル。
Imagine writing this building’s name on your return address! One wonders what ASS buildings Nos. 1 and 2 are like. ご存じの方が多いでしょうが、”ass”の意味＝驢馬、お尻、ばかな人、等。英語のネーティブ・スピーカーにこのビルの名前を説明してみて下さい。
44. A grilled fish vendor outside Karuizawa, Japan. 軽井沢郊外の焼き魚屋。
This very succinct sign has probably cheered many a weary foreign traveler in Japan. You might not guess by reading it, but the sign advertises salted and grilled fish. It burns the salt of the char. (burns = grilled, salt = salted, char = fresh water fish)
とてもコンサイスなフレーズですが、日本語の読めない人にとっては謎です。直訳しますと：「燃やす、魚の塩」。
43. Plastic binder. プラスチックバインダー。
The friend is this animal. Located in your town. When we feel life’s warmth, it’s a sure proof that we are alive. Life brings with it countless possibilities. Life is gentler, be gentle to it. More good advice, though one wonders why the manufacturer of plastic binders decided to put it on this particular product. 文法的には、各文書が問題ないです。しかし、合わせて読むと無意味に近いです。
42. A Tokyo bookstore sign. 書店の看板。
Which meaning? Someone you know well, see regularly, etc. Behave in a polite, kind way to somebody.
Good advice, but from a bookstore? 上記のフレーズはいいアドバイスかも知れませんが、なぜ書店の看板に載せたでしょうか？
I enjoyed your comments!
Here I suggest two possible excuses for the phrases, though the original authors of those may not have intended so; just a sort of logical puzzle for me.
75. SIN is the three letter code of Changi international airport in Singapore. Maybe the owner often visits the country.
74. “!!” stands for “enjoy”, as a heart sign stands for “love” in the famous copy “I (heart) NY”.
I may add some more in future, if you are interested in (but probably not).
Thank you for the comments! Perhaps you are right about # 74 and 75. Please give your suggestions any time.