Have you ever been at the beach, and there’s the frat-boy who’s got some Chinese characters tattooed on his leg? Or the young woman you meet named Brandi (with a heart for the dot of the “i”) who’s got Japanese kanji written on her lower back? The problem with this is who can say for sure what it reads? Based on some of the translations we’ve seen over here (see “Cancer, boiled”), what Brandi thinks says “Daddy’s Little Girl” could very well read something like “Father’s Midget Princess” (no offense to the little people). This all leads me to another observation about Japan, and I’m sure we’ll see it throughout Asia: oddball t-shirts written in English.
There are your name-brand t-shirts in English everywhere – Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, your popular American sports teams. These all make sense. But then things get a little wonky…
Like the woman wearing the shirt which read “Day That Can’t Be Forgotten.” There’s a lot of these, random phrases that work in a literal way, but make no sense on a t-shirt. Then there was a woman wearing a shirt that read “SHYLADY.” Ok, fair enough. We will not approach you and ask to take a picture of you wearing this t-shirt. Along the same lines, there was the guy wearing a shirt bearing the phrase “New York Shit.” Everyone has an opinion, and this guy clearly doesn’t like waiting in line for Umami Burger.
There was a t-shirt that simply read “NUMBER.” I’m not sure whether it’s just some random word choice, or someone followed directions too literally – “put a number on the front!” Maybe “Number” is the name of a clothing brand. I suppose it’s just as odd to walk around wearing a t-shirt that says “BABYPHAT” or “MORE COWBELL!”
There are the really random ones:
“JOINED Earth Motion”
(dude sitting on the Tokyo metro –
something about wearing this on the subway makes sense)
“As likely as not SAFE”
(teenage kid’s hoodie – this also makes a little sense on a teenager)
“GUILTY PARTIES Outrageous Inc.”
(non-threating guy getting his rolling luggage at baggage claim)
“Promise: Mustaches since 1975”
(Saw that one in a store, not on a person. I actually thought about buying it because I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to grow a mustache since 1975. Persistence is the key.)
Another young man had a t-shirt from his alma mater: “US Hardcore University.” I’m guessing this was a poor translation of “Sarah Lawrence.”
Speaking of higher learning, this one was a favorite. We tried very hard to get a picture of this, it read:
I need a polo mallet
COLLEGE
The sarcastic attitude
And lastly, this one: “MIAMI BEACH, 1877.” Clearly this is the kind of history being taught at US Hardcore University, where they’re too busy focusing on polo. Or maybe they’re just being sarcastic…
Amy chased this guy for a good 2 blocks trying to get a picture. This is the best she got.
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werefinemom.com 
These are hysterical! I know someone else currently traveling in another part of Asia who shared a pic on twitter this morning of a tee she saw in a shop. It was literally two paragraphs of mostly jibberish words. What wasn’t jibberish read like a version of Mad Libs. So funny!