Engrish

In Japan, people think it's cool to have English lettering on things. They often can't read it, but think of it as a fashionable decoration, just as Americans like to have Chinese characters on things, but many of us don't know what the lettering on our karate uniform says, for example.

High school style letterman's jackets are in style here, and they are always decorated with lots of English writing. Yesterday I saw one that had a picture of Texas, and said "The Love Star State." Personally, I would like to start thinking of Texas as the Love Star State. It could help its reputation after the Bush years.

In a store I saw a woman's shirt that said "I am a dog."

I never seem to have my camera handy when I see a funny T-shirt, but fortunately lots of other people do and you can see their pictures at http://engrish.com/

Lest you think Americans don't make the same mistakes, a Japanese friend told me that while in the U.S. he saw a man with the Chinese character for "kitchen" tattooed on his arm. The man had no idea what it meant, but it sure looked cool!