Are Japanese Kanji Characters Cool?

I often see young people wearing “Superdry” clothes in California. Superdry is a fashion apparel brand from the U.K. Japanese Kanji characters are often used in their designs. The company’s logo is “Superdry (極度乾燥しなさい) .“

For many Japanese, the term “Superdry” reminds us of one of the most famous beers in Japan, “Asahi Super Dry.” When I saw a guy wearing a Superdry T-shirt at the Los Angeles International Airport, I thought he worked for the Asahi Beer Company. “極度” means “super,” “乾燥” means “dry,” and”しなさい” is the imperative form of do. If I translate it into English literally, it means that you should “dry it extremely.” The sentence doesn’t make sense, but Japanese people can imagine that it’s a play on words related to Asahi Super Dry, which is the name of a Japanese beer.

Several days after I saw this guy, I learned that Superdry was a brand. I also found a retail store near my house and took a look at their products. They looked funny to me. To be honest, I didn’t think this brand looked cool because many strange Japanese Kanji characters were used in their designs. I asked some of my Japanese friends for their opinion of these products. All of them had the same idea as me. They said that the designs were funny. I have no idea how it looks to non-Japanese speakers.

I sometimes see tattoo designs with strange Japanese characters in California. For example, on the street in Berkeley, I saw a lady who had a Japanese Kanji character tattoo which was spelled wrong. I think she wanted to get a tattoo meaning “love.” “Love” in Japanese is "愛," but her character was backwards. That was awful.

I think Japanese Kanji characters look exotic to Westerners, but Japanese people don’t often use it in fashion design. Meanwhile, Japanese people like to use English in their designs. I guess native English speakers might find a lot of strange English characters in Japanese apparel. I’ll post some examples in another blog post.

A Delivery Person

I don’t expect excellent service from delivery companies. Recently, on-line tracking services have been better, but I still experience delivery delays and losses.

One evening, a delivery person came to my house and pressed the doorbell. He had a big package and asked me if the package was for me. I checked name and address. The name which was printed on the label was not mine or the previous resident’s. The shipping address was correct, but Apt C was written on the label as well. My place is not an apartment. I told him that it might be wrong. He took it back.

I was surprised at his work. He thought that something was wrong with the address of the package. Most delivery companies leave packages on the porch or in the mail box and basically don’t request the customer’s signature. I have received packages with incorrect shipping addresses and names. In his case, he thought the second part of the address Apt C, might be the wrong. I can’t help thinking that even this small thing is excellent, and that he is smart. A mistaken delivery might be a small thing in the U.S. However I really want to avoid getting into delivery trouble because a third person has gotten involved in the realignment of the delivery. I don’t know the delivery person, the sender or the receiver, so it’s hard to communicate with these people on the phone.

I told my landlord about this. He joked that someone might live in the loft or the basement as Apt C. One day after that event, I was able to figure out what the package was. A lady came to my house. She asked if I had mistakenly received package. She lives across the road from my complex. Her address is quite similar to mine.

I’m not sure she will be able to get her package, but I hope she will be able to get it quickly.