Friday 12 December 2008
Shibuya Standing Sushi Bar
元祖立食寿司、 にぎり寿司、 1ヶ75円、 にぎりたてのお好きなネタがすぐ食べられます。
がんそりっしょくすし、 にぎりすし、 1ヶ75えん、 にぎりたてのおすきなネタがすぐたべられます。
The originator of stand-up sushi, hand-formed sushi, 1 for 75 yen, your favourite topping stand-up hand-formed sushi can be eaten immediately.
As I said in the last post, restaurants often have heavily stylised kanji on menus and signs. This store has gone for a crystal clear font, except for the Rorschach kanji at top right. You can see 寿司 (すし) in both the weird font and the clear, one above the other. I sometimes think they try to make the kanji as disfigured as possible whilst still retaining borderline legibility. The し looks a little like a cartoon duck.
Anyway, that's some cheap sushi.
Noodles
そば、 うどん
そば、 うどん
Soba, udon
Remember, it's read right to left. I'll tell you, reading menus and restaurant signs is some of the hardest stuff. Everyone seems to prefer highly stylised scripts, so it's really difficult to make out. It's like trying to read English that's written in an ornate Gothic script. Okay for natives to do, but hell for second language learners. You can see this one is pretty easy because they are using kana, but even so, check out the 'ど'. Now imagine reading kanji written like this.
Monday 8 December 2008
Downloads - Dec 08
Here is the second sign pack, which runs from the 4th of August up until the 5th of December 2008. There are 80 signs included. As before there are various formats available. The pictures' folder is archived in 7z format because this type supports the preservation of the Japanese file names on each pic, whereas zip doesn't. You can get the free and open source 7Zip program here.
File details:
Excel spreadsheet, 4 fields; number, kanji, kana, English
Excel 97-03 spreadsheet, 4 fields; number, kanji, kana, English
ODS spreadsheet, 4 fields; number, kanji, kana, English
Tabbed text document, 3 fields; kanji, kana, English
Pictures only, no text, 7z format
The files are available here:
It's a (Japanese) Sign Dec 08
The Aug 08 sign pack is available here.
File details:
Excel spreadsheet, 4 fields; number, kanji, kana, English
Excel 97-03 spreadsheet, 4 fields; number, kanji, kana, English
ODS spreadsheet, 4 fields; number, kanji, kana, English
Tabbed text document, 3 fields; kanji, kana, English
Pictures only, no text, 7z format
The files are available here:
It's a (Japanese) Sign Dec 08
The Aug 08 sign pack is available here.
Friday 5 December 2008
Tuesday 2 December 2008
Garage Sign
Park Ahead
注意、この先公園あり、麻布警察署、港区役所
ちゅうい、このさきこうえんあり、あざぶけいさつしょ、みなとくやくしょ
Caution, ahead there is a park, Azabu Police Station, Minato Ward Office.
I don't understand the need for this sign. It's in the back streets of Roppongi. It seems like a traffic sign, so perhaps it's to warn people that there may be kids running about. The thing is, the street it's on is really a narrow, slow moving type of street, I can't imagine anyone hooning up and down it dangerously.
Monday 1 December 2008
Stop Button on the Bus
Swing Set
注意、天気の良い日は熱くなっております。
ちゅうい、てんきのよいひはあつくなっております。
Warning, on days with good weather, this will become hot.
Some signs are useful and some are just funny. This sign was on a large, arty swing set in the park behind Tokyo Midtown. You would think that if you were designing play equipment, you would make sure said equipment didn't become blisteringly hot on sunny days, you know, when kids are likely to play on them.
Post Box
郵便
ゆうびん
Post / mail
This double crossed 'T' symbol is the postal symbol. 'T' for The Postal Service, I suppose.
Edit: Tokyo5 has kindly explained in the comments that "it's not a 'T'. It's 「〒」...it's from the katakana character 「テ」('te') for 「テガミ」 (tegami...which means 'postal letter')." Thanks, Tokyo5.
Shop Information
店舗・ご案内
てんぽ・ごあんない
Store information
Buildings are usually filled with a conglomeration of unrelated businesses, and if they are bars or restaurants they usually try to have a list at the front detailing their premises. In department stores also, when they have a floor of eating establishments, there is usually information explaining the different restaurants and their food.
My wife hates going to the department store restaurants because they invariable have only five or six choices which are the same in every department store. The usual suspects include soba, udon, tenpura, sushi, Italian, Chinese and a restaurant which seems to serve pizza and parfaits. We usually end up going to the pizza and parfait one, and getting a cornflake filled parfait. I think the cornflakes are meant to be a cheap replacement for more ice cream. I hate those cornflakes.
Car Park 2
Restaurant Sign
Free Taxi
Sunday 23 November 2008
Near a Fire Hydrant.
消防署の通達により、 ここに駐停車できません。 管理組合
しょうぼうしょのつうたつにより、 ここにちゅうていしゃできません。かんりくみあい
Notice from the fire department, you can't stop your car here. Management society (of the building).
I suspect bigger buildings have a kind of maintenance and management office, which is what is probably meant by the management society. The building's management.
On a Train Platform
In Some Shinkansen Station or Another
名古屋・東京方面、 ひかり、 のぞみ、 自由席1-5号車、 停車駅
なごや・とうきょうほうめん、 ひかり、 のぞみ、 じゆうせき1-5ごうしゃ、 ていしゃえき
Nagoya, Tokyo direction, skips-most-stations Shinkansen, extra high speed Shinkansen, unreserved seats cars 1-5, stations where trains stop
Just the most pertinent points. As you can see there is some English. I didn't really know how to format it, and it was hard to shoot because it flashes from English to Japanese over and over.
On a Drink Machine
Saturday 8 November 2008
Priority Seat
優先席、 おゆずり下さい、 この席を必要としているお客さまがいます。
乳幼児をお連れの方・妊娠している方・お年寄りの方・からだの不自由な方
ゆうせんせき、 おゆずりください、 このせきをひつようとしているおきゃくさまがいます。
にゅうようじをおつれのほう・にんしんしているほう・おとしよりのほう・からだのふじゆうなほう
Priority seat, please turn over this seat to people who need it:
People accompanying infants, pregnant people, the aged, disabled people.
Not the clearest picture, but it was on the train. You can see the picture corresponds to the types of people described. I especially noticed the picture of the aged person. They are bent forward, which is somewhat of a stereotypical image of an older person in Japan. The reason for this, as far as I can tell, is that older Japanese people are far more susceptible to osteoporosis than Westerners, perhaps because of an aversion to dairy foods leading to a lack of calcium. I've rarely seen someone whose back is really deformed because of this in Australia, however in Tokyo I see these hunched over little old ladies all the time.
To the JR Station
Thursday 16 October 2008
Umbrella Bags
Tuesday 14 October 2008
Headphones
音漏れ注意、ヘッドホン・ステレオの音は控えめに。車内マナーにご協力を
おともれちゅうい、ヘッドホン・ステレオのおとはひかえめに。しゃないマナーにごきょうりょくを
Beware of noise leaking, as for headphone and stereo noise, please moderate them. Subway car manners, please cooperate.
I've been on holiday in Australia. There aren't so many Japanese signs there although I did catch a few.
Monday 15 September 2008
On a Platform
Thursday 11 September 2008
In a Taxi 4
In a Taxi 3
Wednesday 10 September 2008
In a Taxi 2
深夜早朝2割増、22時から5時まで
しんやそうちょう2わりまし、22じから5じまで
Late at night and early in the morning there is a 20% surcharge, from 10pm to 5am.
I would call it a 'surcharge' but you might say 'premium'. 割 (わり) is also a signifier for a 'unit of ten percent', so I think the surcharge would be 20%. It wouldn't make sense for it to only be 2%.
Tuesday 9 September 2008
In a Taxi
カードをふれてください
カードをふれてください
Please touch your card here.
I've finally managed to be in a taxi in the daytime and sober. You can pay by Suica or Pasmo RFID cards in some taxis. Mostly you use these electronic tickets on the subway, but they are also being used lately to purchase things from vending machines or at konbinis.
Shibuya
まんが喫茶
まんがきっさ
Manga cafe
This large sign advertises one of the amazing manga cafes. You can read manga, watch anime, eat, drink or sleep all night at these places. I've read many an article about freeters sleeping in these places as a cheap alternative to capsule hotels. Don't know first hand whether it's true or not but it sounds uncomfortable.
Sunday 7 September 2008
Consideration
Three Signs
Tuesday 2 September 2008
Azabu Juban Shopping Street Festival
The Azabu Juban Shopping Street Festival is just an excuse to eat and drink a lot, it doesn't even try to pretend that the festival is attached to some temple or religious holiday.
お好み焼(き)
おこのみやき
Japanese savoury pancake
氷
こおり
Ice
やきそば
やきそば
Japanese fried noodles
ラーメン
ラーメン
Chinese noodles in soup
特製
とくせい
Specially made
いかやき
いかやき
Squid balls
The last one is a dish I hadn't seen before, I suppose it's like たこ焼き、(たこやき)、 octopus balls. They are a deep fried batter and octopus mixture. Kind of a Japanese comfort food, but it's not really very appetising, in my opinion.
All of these dishes are usually to be found at festivals. The ice is actually shaved ice with flavoured syrup, great in Summer. The signs were not very kanjified, I tried to pick the most kanjified examples but it wasn't easy. I forced myself to trudge around drinking beer and eating greasy food until I found some good ones.
お好み焼(き)
おこのみやき
Japanese savoury pancake
氷
こおり
Ice
やきそば
やきそば
Japanese fried noodles
ラーメン
ラーメン
Chinese noodles in soup
特製
とくせい
Specially made
いかやき
いかやき
Squid balls
The last one is a dish I hadn't seen before, I suppose it's like たこ焼き、(たこやき)、 octopus balls. They are a deep fried batter and octopus mixture. Kind of a Japanese comfort food, but it's not really very appetising, in my opinion.
All of these dishes are usually to be found at festivals. The ice is actually shaved ice with flavoured syrup, great in Summer. The signs were not very kanjified, I tried to pick the most kanjified examples but it wasn't easy. I forced myself to trudge around drinking beer and eating greasy food until I found some good ones.
Monday 1 September 2008
In Roppongi Station 4
Sunday 31 August 2008
Outside a Jonathon's Restaurant
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