There are a lot of things that the japanese do well: 1. cartoon dogs 2. on-time transportation 3. customer service, 4. dressing and grooming (to horribly simplify...). what they do not do so well is using the english language. the real questions are - why are they using it so much? do they actually know what they are putting on these t-shirts? i mean, how many people in the world does it take before someone lets them in on the secret that we don't actually call it 'relaxing time'?
you see it time after time on advertisements and kids t-shirts: "innocent everywhere," "love kid," or "FAVOR: i hope he will favor me to make friends with," - (today's most recent examples). most of them do make SOME sense, (like this Osaka train station coffee shop serving up an "atmosphere flavored with cocktails, conversation, and coffee"), others are completely wrong [as was the refreshing beverage advertisement for your refreshing new beverage: "Coolish." (so it is SORT of refreshing? and KIND of 'cool'?)].
the source of endless jokes, i don't feel too bad as i've certainly been on the receiving end of this. at one point in germany, years ago, i even asked a nice lady in the museum for a "bullet."
i needed a "pen." needless to say, the lady didn't have one.
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