Hello! Back on the planet now.
When I tried downloading the other photos from graduation, there was a problem with my card, so, here are some more good "Engrish" bits from my business trip to Yokohama this week. Hope they make you smile, too.

L and YOU

Spring is coming on you
***

Yea! I can no longer see my breath when I'm in my apartment! Cherry trees are beginning to bloom! Spring IS coming! and I'll let you interpret the "on you" part :)

Sorry, I have no idea what/who"L" is.

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Please be carful to steps.

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The kanji reads

Ashimoto ni, gochuui kudasai. Which, in the way I usually hear it, translates to Please watch your step. However, in this case, the sign was in a stepped, marble fountain (you can see the water at the base of the sign), yet I don't think you were supposed to 'step' in/on it. I also didn't see any cars anywhere, either.

***

I'm Cherry Boy

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This cracks me up - I just wonder who the target audience is for this (what appears to be) underwear.
***

One of the things we discussed at the conference yesterday was the concept of International English. When I was living in the US, I never really thought about "other" Englishes, except for the occasional cool Brit or Aussie accent I heard in movies. However, since I've been here, I've been learning about this concept of there being an "inner circle" (UK, USA, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand), an "outer circle" (countries that are/were under the influence of UK/US control), and "expanding circle" (English has no official status in these countries, but is often used in business, academia, etc.). Think about all the dialects within the US and UK alone. A moment ago, one of the teachers asked me about the "correctness" of a particular expression that a student had used to answer a test question. While the grammar wasn't incorrect, I understood the meaning, and therefore answered that it wasn't a standard American English expression. I've always been intrigued by the study of languages, and this new concept of International English, along with all of its implications, is interesting to me.
Hope you're enjoying all the random acts of Engrish

from around here. :)

Cigs

Yatta!  I got my camera back.  It was a stowaway in the Pixmobile and apparently enjoying a vacation in Fukuoka.  Must run to Japanese lesson now and then to class.  But here's another classic 'public service announcement' from my corner of the world...

"The cigarette butts are

always more noticeable 

when I'm walking my dog."

yeah.  hate that.

Rantan Matsuri

Nagasaki's Lantern Festival is held each year here around the Chinese New Year, and I went over to see it on the Saturday after my birthday. I usually like wandering around festivals, seeing the street performers, smelling the food, watching the people. I was amazed to see what they could do with "lanterns" - Kelly, I think this looks like a really good project for Sculpture II/III :) I'll put up more photos later...time for me to sit back and relax for a bit. Had to ride all over Isahaya on my bike in the POURing rain today...
By the way, I leave for a two week Japanese language class in Fukuoka tomorrow, and I don't know what internet connections will be like...
Oh, and I hope you like the sign - it's one of a series, but I didn't think you could handle more than one at a time :)