I Really Respect The English In Japan

I have always made it clear that going to the English lessons as one of the subjects here is something I loathe so much that I would prefer to be assigned with a Bahasa Indonesia class instead. Just as it seems that I have to endure another year of English lesson this year, I got exempted from attending English classes, all because I have passed the TOIEC exam - the English test that is used by the Japanese to measure you level of proficiency in the language. I am not trying to boast myself, but everybody knows very well on how low the standard of the test is. The full mark is 990 and an average Japanese student will score around 400 marks. That is why when they are told that our scores are over 900, they will give us that "OMG!-YOU-ARE-A-GOD-FOR-GOODNESS-SAKE!!" expression. Well, just pure Japanese style for having the tendency of over-doing in their attitude most of the time.

To be truthful, that has little to do with this entry because the main thing I will be highlighting here are a few encounters with how creative the Japanese can be when it comes to translating something into English from their mother tongue. Unfortunately as it seemed to be, they just screwed everything up in the end. What you would see from this point onwards is a compilation of powderful Engrish I got to witness during my last spring vacation.

As a starter, take this signboard that I saw in Toshogu Shrine in Nikko. They are trying to deter people from smoking within that area, but they didn't get it that correctly.

What is "smokig"? Some Finnish language maybe.

Since it is just a starter, I will be nice here. I will take that as a spelling error but still, they should have at least taken the initiative to correct it instead of confusing the Japanese kids on the English version.

Soon, it slowly got worse.

This is ambiguous because it could be either a spelling error, or the person who was responsible to put up this notice was sleeping all the way during his English grammar lesson. My bet would be for the latter, and I think he likes the letter "E" very much.

However, I reserved the best for the last.

Earlier of my trip, when I was walking around Shibuya looking for the Indian buffet restaurant, I came across one restaurant, although this one doesn't offer buffet service. The signboard looked just as appealing as how the name suggests itself.

Spicy curry, but I can bet that it will never go any near to our real spicy curry.

Unfortunately, Indeira Curry House had yet to open business when I was there. So I decided to only take a look at the menu pasted on the glass of the door. That was the very moment that I burst out laughing out of a sudden. But luckily enough for me, nobody was looking at me thinking that this dude is better off to be admitted to a psychiatric ward immediately.

How can I not laugh when they show you a menu like this?

Dei, use the spelling checker next time lah!

I understand if they wish to emphasise on how nice their food is, which explains why they came out with a new adjective to describe their "deliciouse" curry. I reckon that new word is waiting to be added into Bombay Dictionary (Revised Edition). One more thing is that I could not make out is what they meant by "stile". Certainly, it is surely not to be the sets of steps that help people climb over fences and gates, which I can't relate with Japanese curry at all. I suppose it should be spelled as "style".

I find their new words are far more interesting than the grammar errors on the menu. If there is an award for the most hilarious new word on that menu, it will surely go to this one.

Bejitable nowadays are so damn expensive - ￥950

I think this restaurant must be using some high-biotech manufactured vegetables that have to be spelled that way. It is highly unlikely even for a standard one primary student to make such a bizarre error. I would just like to offer my full respect to the boss of this restaurant. You are a real bejitable lor.

Scroll a little bit down the menu and the nightmare continued.

They have coleslow, but don't have mess poteto =\

Here, we have two different salads - one that will turn cold slowly, while the other will pose while saying "cheez" to you when you are to put them into your mouth. Sounds not bad, isn't it? That aside, they modified the usual tandori chicken using chickens that are served with its beak still intact. I just have to try this restaurant one day and see if I will transform into a Donald Duck.

In the end of the day, I laughed so hard at the menu that it made my stomach felt full without even stepping my foot into the restaurant.

The Old Tokyo Of Asakusa

Short note: I have finally come to my final post on my spring break trip and it took me almost three months to finish posting all of them when it's already going to be summer now wtf. I know I took like ages to be done with all of them and you must be bored to be dished out with so many travelogues all these months. Bare with me for one last time, okay? And soon enough, I will blog about my summer trip pulak. Haha, no lah, I am bluffing only.

As one of the final stop during my spring trip more than a couple of months ago, I went to Asakusa, the centre of Tokyo's shitamachi, (literally it means "low city"), one of Tokyo's few districts which have preserved a certain atmosphere of the old Tokyo. Similar to the first two days of my trip, I got someone to accompany me to Asakusa. When I asked Joann if she would like to join me there, she jumped to my offer immediately even though she had just touched down in Tokyo from her spring holiday in Malaysia. We went out early to avoid the crowd as Asakusa is one of the main spots during the New Year celebrations in Japan which sees people coming in thousands crowding the place at the beginning of each year.

For many centuries, Asakusa used to be Tokyo's leading entertainment district. During the Edo Period, when the district was still located outside the city limits, Asakusa was the site of kabuki theaters and a large red light district. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, modern types of entertainment, including movies, set foot in Asakusa. Large parts of Asakusa were destroyed in the air raids of World War Two. While the area around the rebuilt Sensoji has regained its former popularity after the war, the same cannot be said for Asakusa's entertainment district. Asakusa can be easily explored on foot as all the places of interest are within the proximity of the train station. Alternatively, a guided tour on a rickshaw called 人力車 (jinrikisha) is also available, but they cost quite a bit. A 30 minute tour for two person costs around 8000yen (RM270). Shorter and longer courses are also available.

Sensoji Temple.

The main attraction of this small district would be Sensoji (also known as Asakusa Kannon Temple), Tokyo's most famous and popular Buddhist temple. Built in the 7th century, it makes this temple as one of its oldest, although the current buildings are post-war reconstructions. The legend says that in the year 628, two brothers fished a statue of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, out of the Sumida River, and even though they put the statue back into the river, it always returned to them. Consequently, Sensoji was built there for the goddess of Kannon. The temple was completed in 645, making it Tokyo's oldest temple.

Kaminarimon, the outer gate.

When approaching the temple, visitors first enter through the Kaminarimon, the outer gate of the Sensoji and the first of two large entrance gates leading to Sensoji Temple built more than 1000 years ago. It is a symbol of Asakusa and there is never a time that area is free without people taking pictures there. Kaminarimon literally means "Thunder Gate", and I bet a picture featuring the "Thundercats" posing in front of the gate will fetch hefty cash.

The shopping street of Nakamise.

Sensoji Temple is approached via the Nakamise, a shopping street line by over 50 shops of over 200 meters that has been providing temple visitors with a variety of traditional local snacks and typical array of Japanese souvenirs such as yukata and folding fans. The shopping street has a history of several centuries. Nakamise, leads the outer gate of Kaminarimon to the temple's second gate, the Hozomon.

Hozomon, the main gate.

Beyond the Hozomon main gate stands the temple's main building and a five storied pagoda. The Asakusa Shrine, built in the year 1649 by Tokugawa Iemitsu can be found close by the temple's main building.

Sensoji main building.

Five storied pagoda within the area of Sensoji Temple.

I entered the interior of the temple to perform some praying rites, along with the other visitors to the temple. Initially, I didn't know that it is a Buddhist temple as I thought it is another Shinto temple, until Joann told me about that. One of those times when I didn't do some slight research on the places I was going to visit.

The main hall where people offer their prayers.

Another dragon painting on the ceiling inside the temple.

A Buddha statue outside the temple.

The weather turned bad when we were leaving Sensoji Temple as it started to drizzle. However, it stopped after a few moments and we thought of walking around Sumida Park which is just a few steps away from the station. This riverside park stretches along both sides of Sumida River for several hundred meters. The timing was perfect when we were there because the cherry blossoms were at their full bloom, although it didn't offer the sight as magnificent as Ueno Park.

Sakura blooming along Sumida River.

At the same place, there are also services for cruises along Sumida River. Sumida River sightseeing ships operate every 30 to 60 minutes from Asakusa Pier via Hama Rikyu Garden to Hinode Pier, where transfer to a ship to Odaiba is possible. In addition, there are some direct ships from Asakusa to Odaiba. All the cruises are offered at a reasonably price that ranges between 450yen (RM15) to 1,500yen (RM50).

This is one of the unusual ships with a futuristic design.

Just opposite Sumida River will be the sight of Asahi Beer Tower. The Asahi Beer Tower and Asahi Super Dry Hall with its characteristic Flamme d'Or were, completed in 1989 and host the headquarters of Asahi Breweries with several restaurants can be found in the complex.

With nothing much left to go, we left Asakusa by mid-day, not before I walked passed this stall selling Paris kebab.

This bloke looks like he was posing to my camera.