Signs and Wonders

It's time for a guessing game! 

Here are various signs that I see in my day to day life. 

Can you guess what they advertise/communicate?

(answers are at the end)

1. 2. 

3. 4. 

5. 6. 

7. 8. 

9. 10.

11.12.

13.14.

15. 

       1.  Don Quixote: the closest thing you can get to a Walmart, but smaller and more expensive and filled with Japanese things...

       2. Yep, seven eleven. It is one of the four Konbinis (convenience stores) within a five minute walk from my house. Unlike the American convenience store which feels dirty and is filled with food that you only eat out of desperation on long road trips, the Japanese Konbini has a clean atmosphere and decent food at decent prices. It is still more expensive than a grocery store. It is also much closer. 

       3. A restaurant: Like a Perkins, Denny's, or Sherrie's, this restaurant claims to serve American food, but you mostly would not recognize it as American. Sure it says spaghetti and pizza, but look closer at the picture before you buy. You could try to Google-translate the Kanji... but than only makes it more confusing, usually.  

       4. Another Konbini: this chain is more popular and (for some reason) also labels its food in English. Again, convenient. べんりですね。

       5. The Japanese says "book". This is a book store.

       6. This is a paid parking lot, which is the only kind of parking lot available in Mito (that I have seen).

       7. Denny's, yup - but the Japanese version. These are the hardest places for me to eat because it is distinctly not American in flavor. I love Japanese food, but if it claims to be American then I want it to taste American. 

       8. This is a commemorative event for a 1980's tv series.

       9. The strange red T means "post office" and it conveniently sticks out above the tops of all the other buildings.

      10. Softbank, a phone service provider: their mascot is a dog. もこもこ

      11. This is a warning about the fast pass for trains - make sure you have enough money on the card or you will jam the lines. かわいいね？

　　12. On business days, some morning trains only allow women passengers. This is one of those trains (although later in the day so it was co-ed when I rode it).
　　13.  Coin Laundry (ko-in ran-do-rii)
　　14.  This strange blue building offers a bizarre selection of things from a huge manga library, cafe, internet, and back massages...

        15. Bic Camera, an electronics store: this one is at my train station, although the chain is popular all throughout Japan. This one has several floors of electronics. I am convinced that they wanted to name their store Big Camera but it somehow got lost in translation, so "Bic" it is. What shocks me most about this store is how much they seem to trust their customers. The cash register is way in the back of the store so that the purchaser walks back past the merchandise after they pay. In American they funnel you out and away from their shelved items through metal detectors. Just think of Barnes and Noble or Walmart.