No discussion about Don Quijote can be complete without the theme song playing in the background: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJyYrrDKYZE
This plays on continuous loop at all stores.
This plays on continuous loop at all stores.
They also have hilariously bad Engrish on their in-store signs. I assume it's deliberate, because anyone I talked to there speaks English just fine.
The baked yams the article mentions are really super popular here, too.
To be honest, I get a huge kick out of funky/odd/slightly off translations. I know they're trying their best and I seriously appreciate that, but I still find it humorous when it's really bad, just as I expect them to find humor in me goofing up trying to say something in Japanese.
On the really bad note, I saw what I assume to be donation box on the memorial to mobilized children in Hiroshima that said 'Please Help Yourself'. I had to do a second read of that and it conjured up a mental image of some American digging around in the box for spare change to the sheer horror of Japanese onlookers.
But who knows, maybe that was the proper translation and it was for the poor who couldn't quite make the change they needed for something essential. But when I see a box of money bolted to a memorial, I generally assume it's either for the people being memorialized or upkeep of the memorial.
Other interesting translations from my Japan vacation:
- 24 hr Reparking
- The coke of food for specified health use.
- A lamp warning label that said "mind the burn."
It's maddening.