Engrish and all its silliness!

8.22.07
Engrish Lessons

For all of us gaijin (the Japanese word for foreigner) here in Japan, one of the most interesting past times is trying to decipher the meaning behind various English translations. Because it is difficult for many Japanese to make an "l" sound, we get the word "Engrish". Yes, it is true that I have no understanding of Japanese and perhaps shouldn't be giggling over these things, but sometimes you just can't help it. Here are a few "Engrish" examples that have caught my eye over the past few days (most of these are t-shirts by the way but are no way limited to this):

• "Explicit Action"
• "Kicked, Clash, Rumble Another Myself"
• I saw something about "Fairytale Dreams" and how they had something to do with the "purethoughts" of a child.
• While looking over a man shoulder on the train I saw an article in a paper he was reading. It talked about a Halloween "pumpkin slaughtering fest". Sounds kinda intense if you ask me!

Japanese Living Lessons
That's all for now but I thought you might like to see my apartment! Oh and if you want to look at even more cool pictures please visit Leah's blog.

Before

After!

And now for some other pictures. We have my shower, which is a little different from its American counterpart. You can see the little , cream water heater that I have to light whenever I want to take a hot shower. Basically you stand on the wooden platform, hold the sprayer thing, and soap up! The little blue tub/bath to the right is just used for soaking. No soap allowed in there and you MUST be clean before you get in.

Leah was cool enough to get Lauren and I some new dishes for our apartment. Guess where they're from!? Ikea! Pretty small world right? She got us some chop sticks, some bowls, plates, glasses, and even a vase! Thank you Leah!!

I also went shopping at the Peacock grocery store that is very close to my apartment. I think it took me about two minutes to walk there. In the little plaza there is a post office, a photo developing place, a police station, and some other little stores that I have to explore. The super market was nice and cool. I picked up some bottled water, iced tea, strawberry yogurt, bread, Kleenex paper towels (Yes, Kleenex makes paper towels, but only in Japan!), and some sushi for my lunch. I thought it was tuna but my Japanese dictionary didn't agree. I'll have to ask Lauren. As I ate my lunch I looked up a few Japanese words.

peach = mo mo
tuna = ma gu ro
water = mizu

I also figured out that my cereal box says "granola" after spending about five minutes looking up the hiragana and sounding them out. :)

Lauren arrives at 6pm tonight! I'm really excited!