Signs

English signage in Japan performs a variety of functions. A lot of informational signage in Japan is presented both in Japanese and English, for the assistance of foreign visitors. Another big category of English signage is for the names of shops and other businesses. Here the English is often as much decorative as informational, which leads to a variety of interesting word combinations:

The spelling of individual English words is not always correct, and sometimes whole new words are created (as in the "Nice Claup" sign above. If this is a small local storefront, or a handwritten sign in a cafe, then this seems completely understandable. However, as I have noted before, when the sign in question is produced by a large corporation then I am much less sympathetic. As one example, on the stairs leading to Kawaramachi Station in down town Kyoto, which Sage and I pass through every week on the way to her cello lesson, is the following sign for the 50th anniversary of one of the huge department stores. The only salient English word in this advertisement is misspelled, in two different ways, as "anivversary." Somehow this major advertising campaign proceeded without either a spellcheck or running it by a native English speaker.

Another example is the elevator company whose products are installed in many of the buildings on the Kyoto University campus. When the elevator is about to reach the designated floor, a sign flashes on the electronic display saying "The car is landing." This is understandable as a guess as to how one might convey this information in English, but it just isn't the correct way to express it. Again, just one check with a native English speaker would have been enough.