Japlish: The Joys of Japanese English

By Yap Yarn

On a pencil-case - "Spanking! By the Sea!"
Outside an adult video shop in Tokyo - "IF EASY TAKE A FENCE PLEASE DISPER"
The owners’ manual of a Japanese motorcycle recommends - "HORN—BUTTON: tootle melodiously at the dog who shall sport in roadway. If he continue, tootle him with vigor."
On a T-shirt - "Keep your period to yourself"

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Oleander Press
• Release date: Sep 22, 2013
• ISBN: 9781497791572

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JAPLISH

Yap Yarn

All rights reserved

© 2003 The Author and The Oleander Press

No part of this publication may be reproduced, in any way, without the prior permission of the publisher.

OLEANDER

INTRODUCTION

A coffee shop in Nagasaki calls itself Placebo Labor Handbag. Anybody who has been to Japan will  already be familiar with the strange, charming, tortured and often nonsensical English, known as Japlish.

The many foreign businessmen and tourists that entered Japan after the War brought with them the English language. English. has now become very common. Partly because of the influence of American popular culture, nearly all young Japanese people speak some English. Computers and the Internet also promote the wide use of English. English is now used on signs in many public areas. Try as they might, though, they don’t always get it quite right and as a result wherever you go you find lots of Japlish. This book is concerned with these failed attempts of the Japanese to get their heads around the complexities of the English language and say what they really mean.

I want to emphasise that I’m not laughing at the Japanese but with them. The Japanese have just as much fun laughing at