Funny Mistranslations and Mis-spellings

The fun begins before you even arrive in Japan, with the official Japanese government customs declaration.

Now I'll be the first to admit that a 13 hour trip is a struggle, but I'm not sure I'd call it a "fight".

If it's good enough for the government then how about a bank? 

I'm not sure what they're trying to say, but I'm sure they probably attracted a lot more male customers.

Here's another bank's answer to the economic slump which has plagued Japan since 1990 - the "no loan".

Yes sir, I'm sure customers are falling over themselves to apply for money and be told that they'll be given "no loan".

Who could resist, with that cute little kitty cat on the sign?   What could be more relevant than a kitty cat?

Here's another innovative way to attract customers, this time at a service station - an upside down "out" sign.   Maybe they think that putting it upside down reverses its meaning, and people will come in.

Actually this sign in the city of Shizuoka where my cousin lives really represents a lost opportunity.   Within a short distance another service station had another upside down sign, this time an "in" sign!   I kid you not!   I regret now that I didn't take the time to stop and take a photo.

OK, my Japanese is even worse than their English, but is this really a sign advertising a kindergarten which teaches young children their ACBs instead of their ABCs?

Could this be why the Japanese are so bad at English?

Actually, no - in Japanese the name of this school is "A-shi-be", so the sign is actually a deliberately amusing reference.

Yes sir, I'm sure As I said, English is actually very fashionable in Japan, and your first glance at this sign on a building in Tokyo's downtown might make you think that Japanese youth have also taken to "tagging" buildings with graffiti.   But come closer and you'll see that this isn't some freehand effort, it's a mass-produced sticker!   Even rebellious individualism is mass-produced here!

If that's one insight into the Japanese psyche, then I was even more surprised to find examples of Japanese humor which are every bit as satirical and absurdist as anything from the West.

You might at first think that "fruit" and "meat" are strange things to classify as burnable rubbish, but in fact Japanese do burn almost anything they can, regardless of how polluting it is.   However, the real joke here is that your passport is also classified as rubbish.   Presumably, the writer expects you to enjoy Japan so much that you won't want to leave.

This hilarious effort was in the window of a children's clothing store in a pedestrian mall in Hiroshima.   The Japanese dote on children, so the sentiment expressed here certainly doesn't fit the image of the traditional Japanese.   And the children's actions in the picture don't fit the image either.

I suspect, however, that most Japanese don't know what "the finger" gesture means - maybe that's what makes this sign so subversive.

You can also look at another example of gentle Japanese humor.