Comments on: How Not To Print A Japanese T-Shirt

By: Tokyo Five

Tokyo Five — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:05:57 +0000

I think that

愛♥
日本

would be better. Like a play on words, but the meaning “I love Japan” can be understood.

By: Ken

Ken — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:06:20 +0000

If you want an “I love Japan” shirt these are much cheaper, INFINITELY COOLER and written correctly!

http://www.cafepress.com/i_heart_japan

Some people really DO love Japan and KNOW HOW TO SPELL IT.

By: vigadiyicn

vigadiyicn — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 18:38:44 +0000

vigadiyicn…

nice post…

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 02:14:56 +0000

Well, they could also wear a T-Shirt saying “I am a complete dork”, maybe written in japanese though. kawaaaaiii

By: DKO

DKO — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 01:20:18 +0000

Wapanese.

By: the overthinker

the overthinker — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 18:57:12 +0000

It’s identical – the triangle in my comment represents the heart. But note the difference between “watashi WA” and “watashi NO” (は and の). A comma would help too, I guess.

You would be better off in Chinese: 我▼日本….

I like Xylo’s reading – very Japanese. But (ironically) only if written in English….

By: James

James — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 14:59:08 +0000

overthinker, would your suggestion still have the same design as my t-shirt (with the heart in the same place)?

By: Xylo

Xylo — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 11:16:05 +0000

ha ha
Translated literally , it’s not much weirder that some Japanese companies’ slogans, in Japanese.
e.g. (for a gas station) “Kokoro mo, mantan ni…” , (My heart too. Fill up the tank.)

I reckon it could be the slogan for the next Tokyo Olympics:
“I am heart. Japan.”

By: the overthinker

the overthinker — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 05:27:27 +0000

You could perhaps make it a bit more grammatically correct and more-or-less what you want to say by making it read “watashi no ‘ai,’ nihon” (私の▼日本) which would mean “my love, Japan”….

By: James

James — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 19:57:08 +0000

Hi there,

I am the owner of Bang Bang T-shirts and wasn’t aware of the grammatical error of this t-shirt until recently. I appreciate that it’s incorrect from Japanese point of view but it was indeed the only way to fit this wording in with the design of the t-shirt and get the message across from an English speaking viewpoint and these people are the target market for the shirt.

This design is actually one of our biggest sellers and we’ve actually sold quite a few this week through all of this publicity! In future though I will perform extra checks to ensure that any t-shirt we sell that are based on foreign languages are strictly correct. I know where to come to get lots of sound advice if we do any more Japanese based t-shirt designs!

By: WujouMao

WujouMao — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 18:16:33 +0000

well for real wacky t-shirts, there is j list

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 12:36:42 +0000

I want one.
Just for the confusion.

“i am love, japan”

“…”

By: the overthinker

the overthinker — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 02:37:15 +0000

It could be read as “I am love, Japan”….
Personally I’d prefer more silly kanji stuff here and less of the “ooh look yet ANOTHER wacky bit of Japanese English ha ha ha”.

By: Lenners

Lenners — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 16:17:20 +0000

It doesn’t make sense, and the “ni” kanji looks like a table with those extra legs o_0

By: Phenie

Phenie — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 15:57:50 +0000

Classic.

By: Goddess Carlie

Goddess Carlie — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:47:22 +0000

haha. I love it. What would we call this? japalinglish?

By: kenji

kenji — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 10:37:15 +0000

yeah wtf? i mean…someone who didnt know what the “i love ny” shirts were would be so damn confused. “i am japan”…nice…