So all’s been quiet blog-wise on the Engrish front, despite the fact that I encounter a bundle of gems almost daily. One becomes slightly immune to it after a while….

 Here is one of my favourites from a Hikari city guide:

‘SHIMATA NINGYO JYORURI

During the Muromachi Period there was an epidemic outbreak. People dedicated cucumbers modeled dolls wearing dresses and pierced with spits to Matsura shrine praying for recovery from the epidemic. This is the origin of this traditional puppet doll play. Jyoruri is played at the Civic Hall, on the 4th and 5th of August every year’.

And this I received today…

‘Memories of yesterday are carefully handed down to tomorrow today. I wish you continuous good management from now on, too. An excellent gift from a good friend. I present you with my whole heart’

…on the wrapper of a biscuit, placed on my desk by whom I have no idea in the school where I have zero friends and terrible management. Such blissful irony, such happy memories.

My supervisor these days can’t be seen without clutching his gospel of multilingual communication, all in Japanese bar the title: ‘Toss’. It doesn’t come much more accurate if Japanese English textbooks are anything to go by.

Trying to sift out the best of the Engrish is no easy task, as it ranges from the downright vulgar to the beautiful but unnecessary, like my recent find:

‘Enjoy the superb taste of cake made with the finest ingredients. Beautiful things are timeless. Women throughout history have never ceased to yearn for beauty‘. Lovely eh? Click the link below to see Mitchell modelling the other end of the spectrum…

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