I can barely make out the red and white sign atop a tall department store across the inlet from my father’s ancestral house on the Inland Sea in the village of Urasaki, Japan. It reads “you me town.”
It’s a typically quirky example of how English words are used in Japan. And although it’s the name of a commercial enterprise, it reflects human relationship. Also there are some linguistic connotations: “you” pronounced “yo-oo” means drunk in Japanese, and “me” (pronounced “meh”) is eye. And the Japanese word “yume” (pronounced yoo-meh) means dream. “yumi” (pronounced yoo-mee) is a common name.
