Comments

Posts

“Japanese only” at Yokohama 150th anniversary celebration

150

The Japan Times recently published a letter from a frustrated foreigner in Japan who visited a Yokohama 150th anniversary celebration event and was shocked to discover that menus and exhibit descriptions were written in Japanese:

The English-language Y+150 Web site invites people to the Kurofune (Black Ship) Restaurant (located in the Y+150 Hajimarinomori area) for “A food court featuring menus and atmosphere that evoke the days when the country and the port were first opened to the world.” That statement is disappointingly accurate; you might have trouble ordering if you cannot read the Japanese-only menu or communicate with the monolingual staff. The International Cafe in front of Aka Renga Soko is similarly unaccommodating for foreign visitors.

In the Y+150 Hajimarinomori (Forest of Beginnings) area is Yokohama Monogatari (Tale of Yokohama). You can walk through a mini-museum of Yokohama history, see a short film and listen to mannequins describe life in Yokohama when Commodore Perry arrived, provided you are fluent in Japanese.

It is a bit misleading for the event to have a rather detailed English page introducing the event to foreigners, especially when tickets cost over 2000 yen. Still, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that most menus in Japan written in Japanese.

[via Yumeji's Theme]

—

Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

33 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - May 30, 2009 at 3:01 pm

Categories: Foreigners in Japan Tags:

Bad Wolf

I know how he feels. I once visited London and everything was written in ENGLISH for crying out loud! No matter how many restaurants or museums I visited, I could find nothing, not one word, written in my native language of Kumswali.
LB

Yeah, and last time I was in Flushing, all the signs were in Hangul or Spanish. It was almost impossible to find anything in English!

Oh, wait a minnit…
Kitty

I went on holiday to Mars and all the menus were in Marinese. Damn Martians!
DC

That’s nothing: last time I was back home in London showing a Japanese friend around, the major museums and tourist sites could only offer taped commentaries in around 50 languages! London has a long way to go to catch with Tokyo in this respect. Oh, wait…

Jar

Pretty silly to compare a mini-museum at a one-off event with a major London museum don’t you think?

DC

Perhaps, but the Edo and Ueno Museums fare pretty badly too. Only a small subset of items explained in *one* foreign language. Doesn’t bother *me* much, however I thought Japan wanted to attract tourists.

http://victorymanual.com/ Alex

Definitely a “bad business decision”, because all of those disappointed foreigners won’t ever return for the next 150th anniversary, that’s for sure.

http://www.mutantfrog.com/ Adamu

I dunno, it does seem to indicate some faulty planning. If this big expo is supposed to draw in foreigners (could have been an afterthought at best) the planners could have double checked that restaurants had English/Chinese/Korean menus. I dont think anyone had that problem at the Aichi Expo in 2005.

madne0

Exactly. Bad business decision, no doubt about it.

binbiiru

The person who complained to the Japantimes needs to spend more time brushing up on their hiragana & katakana instead of complaining they cant even read カレー　ライス

Buster

Sure, these damn tourists should at least learn one of the two 47 character alphabets before they go to Japan.

Dan

Definitely doable. My friend taught himself hiragana and katakana on the flight over when he came to visit and it made his stay a lot more enjoyable. 16hr flight plus Heisig method FTW.

http://victorymanual.com/ Alex

Took me two days, 4 hours each, to internalize hiragana and katakana, and another two days to learn the rules and reading of Korean. And my mother learned to read Korean in a week before she came to Korea for my wedding. And my grandmother spent a month learning French before she went over for a one-week vacation. Either my family is very open to language (which I can assure you by my mother’s high school Spanish records is not the case), or the tourists complaining are expecting too much.
Richard

The Heisig method had me laughing out loud with its twisted mnemonics:

“The sound of a calls to mind a playful little otter, swimming on his back in the middle of a pond whose banks are picketed on all sides by no-parking signs, On his tummy are a stack of daggers, which he is tossing one by one at the signs, clapping his paws with glee each time he hits a bull’s eye.”
Eddie

Wow Alex, you’re family must be HEAPS of fun!!!!
leitmotiv

Took me two days, 4 hours each, to internalize hiragana and katakana, and another two days to learn the rules and reading of Korean. And my mother learned to read Korean in a week before she came to Korea for my wedding. And my grandmother spent a month learning French before she went over for a one-week vacation.

Did you get a medal?

*yawn*
http://victorymanual.com/ Alex

I got three medals.

*yawn*

I would never have expected to, because it’s absurdly easy to learn to read phonetic languages. And you missed the point completely.

Debiru

What? They don’t even speak english.
http://inkawasaki.blogspot.com rafracia

I think the letter writer has a good point. Okay, this is Japan, you expect a lot of things to be in Japanese. But this expo is *celebrating the internationalisation of Japan*.

Like, there are many, many cafes and restaurants in Japan which have menu options in romaji, so foreigners can read them. (And a key point of romaji is *any* foreigner who can read Roman characters can read them. Not only English-speakers; it encompasses virtually *all* foreigners.) And a lot of museums and galleries have at least a token effort to provide a couple of sentences in English.

But even at this expo commemorating Japan’s contact with the rest of the world, there was only katakana. It was pretty striking, walking around their big hall, seeing all these posters with information about how Japan has been influenced by other countries, and not even one sentence in a foreign language.

http://victorymanual.com/ Alex

Perhaps they (the event producers) are looking at it from a different perspective. Perhaps to them, the “internationalization of Japan” doesn’t strictly mean that English pervaded Japan, but that Japanese culture had been opened up to the world.

I didn’t attend the event – Didn’t even know about it until I read it here – so this is all just speculation. But considering where Japan headed in the next era it isn’t too far fetched.

http://martinjapan.blogspot.com/ Martin F

I’m sure Yokohama city would be more than happy if a few Japanese speaking foreigners were to volunteer to help translate some of these unfortunate items into other languages (why only English? How about Chinese, Korean, French, Spanish – there are many more Chinese speakers visiting Japan these days than you’d think) that appear to upset the others who do not understand Japanese, no? All done in a friendly spirit, of course.
Mrs.jane

English not the official lanuage in many countries. What the point of the article? Learn Japanese, French, Spanish, Chinese etc get custom to other culture ppl

somegirl

I totally agree, too many English speaking natives expect that every country should papmer them in English.. Why bother traveling if you don’t at least learn the basics in speaking and reading. I have no sympathy for those who complain that event is not in their native English. Whenever I visit any event in Japan (even if they offer an English translation) I choose the native language information because it has better information (even when I was in Mexico I chose Spanish instead of English). I if want to know more about something I will study it beforehand or after. And if someone can’t read a menu, well they shouldn’t even bother traveling abroad. I hear that complaint on many travelers to Japan on their blogs about restaurants not providing them with comfort, how can one enjoy a culture without totally experiencing it.

leitmotiv

I totally agree, too many English speaking natives expect that every country should papmer them in English.

Its not a matter of pampering to everyones individual mother tongue, its just taking the minimal step of actually being international (as this organization claims to be) and including the defacto international language.

Whenever I visit any event in Japan (even if they offer an English translation) I choose the native language information because it has better information (even when I was in Mexico I chose Spanish instead of English).

You clearly also deserve a medal….please continue….pat your own back publicly some more for us.

Kate

The point of the article is that they advertised in English to English-speaking peoples to come to their exhibit and restaurant, then did not bother to accommodate them once they were there.

It’s akin to a group in the US advertising to Japanese tourists on a website in Japanese about an exhibit regarding Japanese/American relations, and then not providing translations for those tourists who respond to the advertising and don’t speak English. It would be rude, and a stupid decision.

lovely

i think the point here was promoting internationalism. seems as though internationalism was not even a thought in their minds when they thought up this international themed whatever. and, most restautants even out here in the sticks provide romaji and/or pictures.
Kitty

I heard they only have Ebonics menus and not English.
Marcello

According to this video, they won’t need to have Chinese menus in the future:
http://www.ted.com/talks/jay_walker_on_the_world_s_english_mania.html

But I do agree with the author, it would seem a worthwhile investment to translate a menu at an event expecting non-Japanese speakers/readers.
RMilner

It is surprising that only Japanese should be used for the exhibition.

Japan is having a big drive to attract foreign tourists (Yokoso Japan) and the exhibition is to celebrate the historical introduction of Europeans into Japan.

English isn’t just a major language in its own right, it is also a very widespread second language learned by many Europeans, Chinese and Indians as well as Koreans.
jones

English isn’t just a major language in its own right, it is also a very widespread second language learned by many Europeans, Chinese and Indians as well as Koreans.–

lol. at first; its not the English but the American. second; there is always the Esperanto and the “trilingual rule” for such case.
http://brotherwormgear.blogspot.com/ wormgear

I’m sorry for this, because I really do understand the point being made, but I can’t help but find this ironically funny!! I can’t help but wonder– was that intentional? A sort of bait and trap if you will? Hahaha. That would be funny. I’m sorry – really I am because I know how it feels, but still this makes me want to start chanting 尊王攘夷 (“Sonnō Jōi!!”).
zoglog

lol,
I went there on June 1st and found the stupid food was overpriced anyway. Guy should be happy to not have been price gouged.

Though I will admit the site COULD be misleading to some particularly unenlightened individuals who are new time tourists to Japan. I’ve always just assumed to NOT expect an English menu or directions ever in Japan.
http://www.zoglog.com zoglog

OH yeah, did I mention that the festival is NOT worth the 2400 Yen it costs, and La Machine is a big dissapointment

“Japanese only” at Yokohama 150th anniversary celebration

Recent Comments

Further Reading

South Korean Government Demands That International Hydrographic Organization Use “East Sea”

Japanese Documentary About Sea Shepherd’s Protest Activities in Taiji (English Subtitles)

Babies Born on March 11th Receive Special Present

Washington Times Freelancer Slams Former Employer, Fails to Ethically Disclose Relationship?

Christopher Johnson Attempts to Silence Criticism of His “Gaijin Gulag” Article (Legal Threats!!!)

Tabloid Reports About Yu Darvish’s Love Life: Kirara Asuka & Miho Koga?

Does K-Pop Group KARA Have Ties to North Korea?

Tokyo Gate Bridge

Sara Errani Admits She Avoided Tennis Tournament in Tokyo: Feared Radiation

Chinese Workers Who Survived March 11th Tsunami Return to Tohoku

Categories

Archives

Subscribe

Japan Blogs

Korea Blogs

Linkroll

Other Asia Blogs