Good morning!

I want to get myself some T-shirts with anime motives printed and am currently looking for short humorous phrases to go along with.

So.. whats the best T-shirt caption you've seen so far?

Wut?

You've never seen shirts like

?

I'm looking for quotes like this one. (and hopefully more original than this one)

Ah, the Japanese language equivalent of Engrish t-shirts..

"I want a Japanese girlfriend" (creepy, sad and grammatically incorrect)
"I'm not interested in normal people" (quote from Haruhi I'm guessing)
<2ch meme you were never part of to attempt to show that you "get it", but is more like a parent trying to use hip slang to relate to their kid>

Nothing I'd qualify as humorous.. I've seen some funny shirts with Japanese on them around here but unfortunately I can't recall anything they've said. Village Vanguard, LOFT, Tokyu Hands, etc sell that kind of stuff.

I do remember one shirt I saw at a store a long time ago that said "日本代表" that I wanted but didn't buy since I was a poor student at the time. The juxtaposition of a foreigner wearing such a shirt would have been kind of funny.

Jarvik7 Wrote:"I want a Japanese girlfriend" (creepy, sad and grammatically incorrect)

I agree. But I could gift that shirt to one of my friends if we travel to Japan next year.

Most (English) t-shirt captions aren't very funny either, but once in a while I see a shirt that makes me smile. Anyone can think of a Japanese equivalent?

Although I disagree with Engrish, I do like the way the Japanese stylize English text on their shirts. It's too bad they can't say something cool.

Jarvik7 Wrote:I do remember one shirt I saw at a store a long time ago that said "日本代表" that I wanted but didn't buy since I was a poor student at the time. The juxtaposition of a foreigner wearing such a shirt would have been kind of funny.

I think it'd be funny if a Japanese person wore the shirt that said 日本人彼女募集中。

Jarvik7 Wrote:"I want a Japanese girlfriend" (creepy, sad and grammatically incorrect)
Nothing I'd qualify as humorous.. I've seen some funny shirts with Japanese on them around here but unfortunately I can't recall anything they've said. Village Vanguard, LOFT, Tokyu Hands, etc sell that kind of stuff.

I remember when I first saw it I thought it was supposed to be read vertically. I was like "Isn't it supposed to be 女人? And isn't it Chinese?"

Jarvik7 Wrote:Nothing I'd qualify as humorous..

Yeah, I noticed that apirx was asking for "anime motives" (maybe "motifs" is a better word?), but did not notice the "humorous" bit, so I just linked some memetic otaku phrases.

kainzero Wrote:I think it'd be funny if a Japanese person wore the shirt that said 日本人彼女募集中。

I think there would be some awkward implications in that. As if he means he will only settle for a 真日本人...

(I'm sorry)

vonPeterhof Wrote:I think there would be some awkward implications in that. As if he means he will only settle for a 真日本人...

of course it's awkward! that's why it's so funny, lol.

kainzero Wrote:

vonPeterhof Wrote:I think there would be some awkward implications in that. As if he means he will only settle for a 真日本人...

of course it's awkward! that's why it's so funny, lol.

Don't know about where you are from, but in Russia if a girl was wearing a t-shirt that said "Looking for a Russian boyfriend" the implication would be "Jews, Gypsies, Chechens, Uzbeks and other nyerus' ("non-Russian scum") need not apply". Considering the ethnocentric views on nationality that are widespread in Japan and the prejudices against some groups of the population, like the Zainichi Koreans or the Burakumin, it does not sound funny to me at all. But then, I am looking at this through the eyes of a 75% nyerus' living in Russia, I have no idea how a Japanese person would interpret that.

I live in the US. I think if you wore a shirt that says "I want a Japanese Girlfriend" in English you would get a ton of crap thrown your way.

But in Japan, where it's at least 90% Japanese, being Japanese and saying "I want a Japanese girlfriend" is kinda like a "Well, no shit."

Yeah, I guess the Japanese don't have that "We're on the brink of a race war" mindset that many Russians seem to have. At least not yet. Although I do remember reading some conspiracy theories about Koreans infiltrating and secretly controlling the DPJ, as well as stealing donated goods from tsunami-stricken areas, but I'm assuming those views are way out of the mainstream.

kainzero Wrote:But in Japan, where it's at least 90% Japanese, being Japanese and saying "I want a Japanese girlfriend" is kinda like a "Well, no shit."

But I guess those remaining 10% could feel offended. In my country (Austria) I think a lot of people would feel offended if I were to wear a shirt saying "Looking for an Austrian girlfriend". At the very least I would get some very awkward looks. But I haven't been to Japan, so I wouldn't know.


I found some shirts at http://megaidol.com/

Opinions?

本命は日本人　sounds relevant

不法滞在中 is also kinda relevant. Making a foreigner in Japan wear that t-shirt for a couple of days would be one nasty 罰ゲーム

五つの文字

apirx Wrote:本命は日本人　sounds relevant

It's mistranslated though.

It means something more like "My true love is Japanese". It doesn't necessarily imply that you also have other lovers.

I dunno it seems like a pretty good translation to me. 本命 means main target or the true target of ones desires as opposed to those other guys/gals one may be casually dating/hanging around with. It doesn't really imply a fully formed relationship. So it does imply the presence of others.

Other people who you are not dating/interested in, such as your grandmother.
Even if it did mean "favourite girl out of my harem" (which is possible if you are saying that the other girls are meaningless to you), the English just says "other". Still wrong.

It is most commonly used on valentine's day to differentiate between giri/tomo chocolate and chocolate for someone you actually have a romantic interest in.

日本人専門家?

Quote:Although I do remember reading some conspiracy theories about Koreans infiltrating and secretly controlling the DPJ, as well as stealing donated goods from tsunami-stricken areas, but I'm assuming those views are way out of the mainstream.

I think they're about as mainstream as Daily Mail readers in the UK.

It's not just Koreans, don't forget the cultists...

Jarvik7 Wrote:Other people who you are not dating/interested in, such as your grandmother.
Even if it did mean "favourite girl out of my harem" (which is possible if you are saying that the other girls are meaningless to you), the English just says "other". Still wrong.

It is most commonly used on valentine's day to differentiate between giri/tomo chocolate and chocolate for someone you actually have a romantic interest in.

It is also used to distinguish 本命／遊び. Anyway think of the context. I imagine the point is that someone would wear this T-shirt when they're with their non-japanese girlfriend as a joke. The implication being that they think Japanese girls are better/hotter and that this person beside them isn't their main girlfriend. It's like the bumper sticker "my other car is a ferrari" placed on a shit car or a cheap bag labelled "my other bag is prada". The implication is that the other/main one (which reflects their real taste/class) is better so 本命 seems appropriate in this case.

dizmox Wrote:I think they're about as mainstream as Daily Mail readers in the UK.

This is a pretty bold claim. Isn't the Daily Mail the second best selling paper in the UK? The second best selling paper in the US is the Wall Street Journal, and somehow I can't imagine that those racist tabloid things sell quite as well...

Any reason you believe this?

But the Daily Mail is a trashy right wing tabloid. :S

Crazy right wingers aren't exactly uncommon in Japan, just look at 2ch, anti-foreigner protest videos, anti-Korean sentiment in the comment sections of Korean music videos on Youtube, etc.

You're right that there are a good deal of right-wingers in Japan, but it's hard to tell how many. Certainly, in the US we have a ton of silly right-wing or racist groups too though, and it's hard to compare the numbers.