Japanese
Signs (2)
Here we have
a tatami-ya
(tatami
maker). The sign (a kanban,
I suppose) on the left gives the kanji for tatami and
the proprietor's name, Uchida.
Good ol' stop
sign: Tomare.
Notice that the kanji here is the same one used
in kinshi
(prohibited,
forbidden, not allowed); see right.
Anzen
is "safety,"
and daiichi
is "number
one," so we have "Safety First." I suspect this is a
translation from the English, and I really don't see
it around much.
Suri,
hittakuri ni goyôjin! "Beware of pickpockets
and pursesnatchers!" The dot between the first two
words is like an ampersand (&), and is called
a nakaguro.
Hachigatsu nijûyokka
yasumasete itadakimasu. "We will be closed on
August 24th." If you want to learn in detail
what yasumasete
itadakimasu means, you should take a
look at Jay Rubin's Making Sense of
Japanese. The first edition of the
book was titled Gone
Fishin', which was the author's
translation of this phrase. A very interesting book,
in any case.
Continue on to
Japanese Signs
(3)
