July 8, 2009

Lost in Translation

So walking around Tokyo Disney Sea yesterday, my brother and I decided to document this bizarre Japanese phenom of t-shirts with seemingly "American" phrases printed on them that make absolutely no sense at all. Here are some highlights:
  • little girl wearing a pink t-shirt with a sparkly crown on it, above the word NEBULA printed in pink sparkly letters
  • guy wearing purple t-shirt with the word VIVACIOUSNESS printed in sparkly silver cursive
  • middle-aged man wearing polo shirt with SOUTHERN CAL printed across the back
  • teenage girl with surf-y type shirt; on the back in a circle with big bold letters written LOVE TO ENJOY BEACH and in the middle in cursive says "Smiling is my the Time of Your Live"
  • mid-20's dude wearing a P.E. shirt that said MANY GREAT then underneath FOOTBALL then the size XL
  • another mid-20's dude wearing a jersey style t-shirt with 3/4 length sleeves that read FROMAGE above the number 84
  • teenage girl wearing a sweatshirt with phrases printed all over randomly, but the only one clearly visible in the middle of her back around a silhouette of a girl read TOO DRUNK TO FUCK
And that is it for this edition of silly Japanese t-shirts. The main consolation is that I'm sure our t-shirts with Asian phrases on them say similarly ridiculous things.

Additional t-shirts seen on July 5th around Akihabara and Shinjuku:
  • In swirly, surf-y type letters, HURL DEFIANCE CAROLINA
  • A JESUS jersey with the number 13 on it
  • A light-blue polo with writing on the back, above the left butt cheek that read MIND MOST MEN BUT MOST YOURSELF
  • A bright yellow t-shirt with two rifles crossed on the front and BLACK PANTHER PARTY OAKLAND written in black lettering
Around Harajuku on July 6th:
  • The Peanuts characters dancing in front of a wall of speakers, AT THE CLUB WE LOVE
  • A girl walking out of the Japan Rail station wearing a white t-shirt with swirly silver lettering that read PERVERT THE TRUTH
  • A jersey-style shirt that said on the back SURF WAVE LIFE CATCH BIG WAVE STYLE around the number 32
  • A tall, thin boy wearing a black shirt that in pink letters said I <3>
  • A small girl in a white t-shirt that read I <3>
  • A teenager girl in a green t-shirt that said CHECK MATE in blue bold letters
Walking into a t-shirt shop in Harajuku we found the following hilariously sloganed t-shirts for sale:
  • MY LOVE... WANNA LOSE MY MIND INSIDE YOUR HEAD
  • ROYAL HOUR
  • SUNSHINE GOOD WAVE THE RAINBOW
  • STYLE FREEDOM WEST CORST (no that's not a typo) DRUGS M.H.C.
  • DISCO DISCO DISCO DISCO ALL NIGHT FEVER
  • LA COUNTER OF THE COUNTER AMERICAN DREAM
  • SMILING ARMY with a camo smiley face
  • GO TO DMC
  • DETROIT METAL CITY
And more around Harajuku:
  • PLEASE EAT ME
  • YOU BITE ALL THOSE STICKS and it continued into something else we couldn't read but who cares
  • I <3>
  • A muffin over crossbones? Death muffin? Death cupcakes? Hm...
  • BIG LOVE OF SOMETIMES MAYBE GET IT
  • pink shirt with GRANDMA TAKE ME HOME written on the back in green lettering, worn by guy in his twenties
  • young dude on the train, in a yellow t-shirt with an orange monkey sticking his middle finger up and the word PSST! written underneath