My friend Ben put me onto this one. Its a little youtube video about learning Japanese. In this episode they go over abbreviations for English shop names. You have to watch it until the end to really get the gist of it.
You can check out the rest of their videos on youtube here.

ASSES’BRIDGE indeed. Engrish in Japan needs no further explanation.

Yes, that handsome polyethnic fellow reflected in the window is me. As Henry Louis Gates (the famed black academic who gained notoriety when he was arrested by a white police officer for breaking into his own home) noted, the ideal interracial world will be when we …

Yet another clip of Japanese kids TV. This is the morning show that I posted the closing song for the other day. There is a girl, a cactus and a chair as the characters, go figure. I often think of cacti and chairs together……
Despite the strange combination of characters it is actually really cool to …

When you want to ask for Japanese pickles you say “Su-ke-mono” and avoid accidently saying “Su-ki-mono” which means nymphomaniac. Sure it will get a laugh but people will look at you funny for a while.

ie:

Sukemono kudasai. Pickles please.

not:

Sukimono kudasai. Nymphomaniac please.

When I came to Japan I was given a couple of really good books by my cousins that have served me well over the years.
The first book was ‘Making out in Japanese’. Doesn’t look like it’s in print anymore but there isMore Making Out in Japanese (the revised edition).

Foreign guys living in Japan tend …

The other day I was telling my Japanese friend that in US TV ads Nikon pronounces its company name as ‘naikahn’ and not the technically correct ‘nekohn’. It’s interesting that Nikon has accepted how their brand is accepted in another country and have adapted. It makes me wonder if IKEA ads in the US say …