Filth Wear

Oh god! How could I have forgotten to put this picture on the blog?! My heartfelt apologies. While waiting for a fisherman's boat to take us out to see the famed blue coral in Ishigaki, we were approached by 2 small children. They were incredibly cute. After giggling at us for a minute or two, one of them commanded with glee, "EIGO SHITE!" ("Do English!"). Apparently a foreigner is more of a treat down there then on Okinawa. Happy to oblige, we approached and gave them a feeble, "hello how are you?", or something... I can't remember because it was at this point that we get close enough to read the kids hat. It's the weirdest hat that anyone ever made for a 5-year-old Okinawan boy's head:

In case you can't read it, it says:

FILTH WEAR:
FETISH FASHION LATEX CLOTHING RUBBER BONDAGE ACCESSORIES

Püh, and American parents worry about what their kids are wearing.

More Engrish

After 9 months of reading my blog you should all be familiar with the Okinawan Shisa, guardian of hearth and home. There is a shisa on the steps of the Mihama American Village (uh, yeah there's a place here called the "American Village". It has a mall, a ferris-wheel, a cineplex, 2 Starbucks right across from each other, a horrendous array of shops selling wares that Okinawans consider to be American, and various restaurants promising -- yet never quite delivering -- "the comforts of home".) There is some graffiti on one of the shisa's paws. What a poignant mix of Okinawan and American culture this graffiti presents.

This is what it says:
I can't decide whether to think this Engrish is adorable and cute or just odd. It's sure funny, whatever else it might be. Was the perpetrator trying to send a message to the Americans that swarm Mihama by writing this in English... make a cultural connect? Did someone slave long hours over this translation, writing draft after draft until it was finally perfect? OR, is this just one good example of how Okinawans relate to the American presence and culture on their island?

I'm inclined to go with the second option. People here have a bizarre relationship with English that comes across in slang, signs, menus, and especially the wonderful, wonderful world of T-shirts. Instead of trying to explain, let me just show you a few photos of T-shirts that I snapped walking through the mall at the American Village yesterday. The last one is actually very poetic, as you will see. Basically everyone walking the streets here is wearing a shirt of equal or even more fantastic Engrish.


what would life be without tshirts?

Engrish locks!

For those of you who don't already know it, there is yet another website that will help you pass hours of boring time at work/home. It's Engrish! Engrish (things that are nonsensical/badly translated into English) is EVERYWHERE in Japan: menus, signs, packaging, T-shirts. I thought I would post a few good ones here, just to give you an idea of the kind of world I'm living in. I'm worried America may never be funny again after having lived in Japan.