Japan has a rather interesting fascination with the English language. The train stations (and inside the trains) have names written in both, Japanese and English, which is useful for foreign travelers. Various stores and labels (i.e. McDonalds, Dominoes, Starbucks, etc.) would be in English, of course. So far, no surprises there.
It becomes more intriguing when doing shopping. Some words or a phrase in English can often be seen on clothing and various other items, such as bags and bento boxes. In Japanese, barely. Having English writing on items has been trendy for quite sometime time. To be fare, I have found clothing/items with writing in languages other than English - French, German, and Italian - but English appears to be the predominant "cool".
Sometimes this "cool" goes to certain extremes defying logic:
When grocery shopping at a local mall, sections such as "Meats", "Sea Food", "Dairy", and etc. are labeled in English. Keep in mind that this "local" mall is actually 20 minutes away by train from the main city - there are no tourists here and only a handful of foreigners, such as myself, who are here for family reasons.
While most Japanese have studied English in some form (usually during their school days), and some can speak the language however badly, most can read English letters for the sake of typing. Still, I have a hard time imagining most shoppers at the store bothering to read/understand what is written on the wall. Still, as the saying goes, "the grass is greener on the other side", so it is understandable to think that some other language is cool. Do I think that Japanese language is cool? You bet! 😎
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