和製英語・Japanese-made English (Engrish)

和製英語 (Wasei-eigo: Japanese-made English) is a term that all foreigners living in Japan come to learn. No matter where you look, you cannot avoid it. Whether it’s someone's t-shirt, a sign in a store or on the streets, sayings on letter paper, etc., like the konbini, wasei-eigo is ubiquitous.

I hadn’t thought about this in a long time, but as I was shopping in Tokyu Hands, I saw a lot of stickers with wasei-eigo. I couldn’t stop myself from taking pictures as I now carry my camera everywhere. So, for your daily amusement, look no further.











When I returned to work on Monday, I was given a “souvenir” (お土産---omiyage) from someone’s business trip. Omiyage are obligatory and usually edible, as in a snack (okashi.) Seeing that I had just been thinking about wasei-eigo over the weekend, I found the packaging appropriate.

The spirit of OKASHI. It is what gives a peaceful and pleasant mind to the human race. All the time, man seeks romance in the OKASHI. We have been working hard and carefully, and work on. To weave the romance and the fancy into each OKASHI. This, at last, we have made up “The HAKATA SEIYO-WAGASHI.” If you taste the feeling and the spirit of the OKASHI which value tradition and living in the times, there is no pleasure better than it.