telepathic paranoia

Ooh, I forgot, there was another sign I wanted to share. M. says this is an ad for a restaurant, and what else could it be? But it seems odd… I’ve never seen wild boar on any menus in Japan. I really wanted to investigate but could not figure out where it was directing us, if anywhere.

M. and I also disagreed a bit on the content of the image. I said, “aw, the cute boar is sleeping!  While flying dreamily through the air!”  He said, “the boar’s not sleeping or flying. Its eyes are closed and its legs stretched out because it’s dead and trussed.” So, okay.  Still, as slaughtered game go, it’s pretty adorable.

Also for some reason I liked this sign, at one of the temples we visited.

I don’t know why, it’s perfectly understandable (and true!).  I just thought it was cute…  ’cause, where else would you keep your toilets?  (It was a gorgeous bathroom, by the way!  Huge and empty, way way underneath Higashi Hongan-Ji temple.)

Tags: japan, kawaii, kyoto, restroom, western-style toilets, wild boar

“ladies use the word sweat when they feel it best for their best.”

I feel a little bad posting this, because there are whole corners of the web devoted to making fun of Japanese attempts at English, and they can give an unfair impression… Once upon a time, it might have been common to find signs in such garbled English as to be incomprehensible, but nowadays it seems as though nearly every English notice has been composed with great care.

Nearly every.

I have no idea what’s going on here. It’s a sign for a European-style coffee shop — why are we talking about sweat? Or ladies?  The only thing I can guess is that this may be a common Japanese proverb or something which… just doesn’t translate.

Like it wasn’t bad enough that they named their cafe “DORF”.

Tags: coffee, dorf, engrish, japan, kyoto, ladies, sweat, words

It’s more likely than you think.

Japan is reputed to be one of the safest places in the world, and aside from the very occasional purse-snatcher, there is nothing to fear.

Except centipedes and monkeys.

Signs like these are up all over M.‘s dorm. I particularly enjoy the image of a carful of centipedes, even if that’s not actually what they meant.

MONKEY WARNING: Be sure to lock your window.  DO NOT leave food items/scraps on balconies or around house.   DO NOT approach monkeys.  DO NOT make eye contact with them.  Monkeys will aim at your combini bag which you’d better hide from their eyes.

But wait, aren’t monkeys cute and friendly? Apparently not these guys — they’ll knock you over and steal your convenience store snacks without a moment’s remorse. M. says he saw one at the bank the other day (okay, near the bank — he wasn’t working as a teller or anything) and he was huge and grumpy-looking, like an angry old man. M. did try to avoid eye contact, but the monkey gave him a dirty look anyway. Here’s a picture of them hanging out in a hot spring.

Since undoubtedly you will have to handle monkey droppings at some point in your life, I consider this a public service.

Tags: japan, kyoto, Macaque, monkey, saru, snow monkey

Wow! The semester is fully in gear now, and grad school work is currently eating my soul. No time for anything thoughtful, but here, have some pictures of this motel sign down the street from me.

I know it’s not terribly original, but I’m a huge fan of retro-cool motel signs. Not sure I’ve captured it in its full glory yet — I might go back and take a movie of it?

Tags: motel, motel sign, neon, photography, pullman, red, retro, the palouse, washington