When I was in high school, I had the choice of learning Spanish or German. I wanted to learn German. Of course, my parents felt differently. "Spanish will be a necessary skill in the United States." Sure it will. And the choice of languages that I was given at the time (I still remember this) was that my choice was "not a choice". I also wanted to learn Japanese. My rationale for German and Japanese was that both countries are high-tech leaders, and with my interest in computers, I figured that I'd need to interact with people from Germany and Japan in my life.
...Fast forward 14 years later. I've been to Frankfurt, Munich, and Berlin (twice). I've been to Zurich (at least twice). And I'm now in Nagoya, heading off to Kyoto, and then Tokyo. I also visited some other countries (Poland, Italy, Czech Republic to name a few), and none of them speak Spanish. When was the only time I got to use my Spanish skills? Spring break in Cancun. Woooeee!
So then, I thought, it would be OK because certainly most things in Japan must be signposted in English too. Wrong again. The picture below is from a department store in downtown Nagoya. Yep, your guess is as good as mine.
Written at 8:30am, Sunday August 26th in Nagoya.