Sometimes, the texts makes no sense at all because the english is too bad to be understood. Sometimes the language itself is understandable and in some occassions it's even pretty much perfect.
However, even if the grammar is good, the context those small english texts are placed in often doesn't make too much sense. It's like their just put there because it's cute or cool to have some english text on the product.
As a foreigner who consider myself to have quite decent knowledge of the english language, this is quite amusing.
Not in the sense that I make fun of the japanese inability to write english correctly (uhm okay well a little bit to be honest), because I actually think this is quite cute and I appreciate it. I don't want the japanese companies to change and start using the english language in a more professional (and boring) way. It's part of the Japanese culture and I enjoy it.
By now, unless you've already visited Japan or read my previous post about the Scandinavian bread store, you're probably quite confused and wonder what the hell I am babbling about, so I'll just give you a few examples.
My frying pan:
"One petal was found.
Some petals gather and it becomes a flower.
They gather and support each other and make a living.
We have to value "GIVE AND TAKE".
Sure, I get the message, and it's a nice thought you know. One may just wonder what it does on the bottom side of my frying pan?
A bag of candy I got at a birthday party:
Like with the frying pan, quite an amusing, cute little text, isn't it?
Mints I bought at the supermarket:
Dry Hard (with a vengeance?) Mints.
Actually contains caffeine also it says.
Ash trays from a bar I visited:
"Have a good time" "Can you make smoke rings?"
Actually this is just cute in that special japanese way.
