I say part one only because I have a fair amount of miscellaneous photos with very little overall theme to tie them together. But since you’re ‘there’ and not ‘here,’ I expect photos would be of great interest (pictures, thousand words, etc.).

But before we get to the gallery, a few words (and examples) of the great language divide as told through the humble T-shirt slogan. At the start of a recent Japanese language lesson, my instructor told me she was concerned because she had seen a sign at the train station in both English and Japanese, and that the English translation was terrible.

She realized that most Japanese would not know enough English to care, as the Japanese version was correct. Her concern was more a point of pride. With the Olympics coming to Tokyo in the Summer of 2020, she was concerned that native and proficient English speakers would have a poor view of Japan if they couldn’t even get simple signs translated properly. Indeed, for the past few years there has been an effort to include more English signs in many places, especially public transportation. We have been the unintended beneficiaries of this effort and it is very helpful.

As one wanders the streets in this bustling town, there is a bombardment of signs, logos, loudspeaker announcements, etc., about 99% of it in Japanese. As such, to a non-Japanese speaker, it is a bit like white noise; you see it and hear it, but it tends to just wash over you. On the other hand, when something is printed or spoken in English, it sticks out and tends to be noticed. Enter the lowly T-shirt, the canvas of the masses.

Many of these shirts are standard-issue stuff, logos and slogans from multi-national corporations and fashion houses. It’s hard to mess up ‘Just Do It.’ But others that I have seen have no particular reason to exist that I can discern…they don’t seem to be tied to any particular brand and only serve as adornment or as a fashion statement. They are (supposedly) ‘cool.’ So here is a brief list of some of my favorite T-shirt non sequiters, Tokyo-style (my observations in parentheses…the ‘bad’ words were spelled properly):

– Forcible Pupil
– F#%K CITY (in 12-inch high silver metallic capital letters)
– Time is the rider the break youth
– The Couch Ruined Surfing
– Night cruising pedal
– 11st Monday lovely baby
– I’m fortunate to you and want to be you
– Nomadic collection study in the all from the hearth
– F#%k the Ashley’s  (worn by a middle-aged Japanese woman in ritzy supermarket)
– Climax of a story pink latte lodestar
– What can only ‘HL’ done now

I have no idea what any of it is supposed to mean, but to the wearer it probably makes about as much sense as my horribly mangled Japanese (although I am awesome at asking where the bus/train goes).

On to the pix…more in part two…