Engrish

For those who are not privy, Engrish is a term that refers to relatively humorous attempts by Japanese writers to use English words and phrases. This is often done as part of advertising and no visitor to Japan will probably complete their trip without seeing several examples of this. Often times the most hilarious ones are on what are meant to be cutting-edge t-shirts worn by teenagers and young adults. Last trip I saw several examples, but either didn’t have my camera with me or thought it would be inappropriate to take a photo (usually this means the hilarious Engrish was being worn as apparel by someone).

On Flickr, there is a photo group I belong to called “Engrish“. A few months ago they had a contest for “best” Engrish. This was the full group of the 10 “best” engrish phrases or signs that were up for consideration, and these were the winners. Hilarious! The winner is my favorite by far.