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Why is signage in Japan mostly written in Kana when discussing food stalls? (feddit.online)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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Like, they could've just said 蕎麦屋 rather than そば屋 if that restaurant is selling dishes involving soba noodles for example. I've seen うなぎ more often when there's a Kanji for it (鰻) but decide to transcribe it using Kana, same with supermarkets or stores on them writing たまねぎ (玉葱), にんじん (人参), りんご (林檎), まぐろ (鮪). Also stalls that sell takoyaki often write it as たこ焼き (they've could used the Kanji for たこ which is 蛸).

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[–] 42 points 1 month ago (2 children)

As a relative beginner, I think it's funny that you say "they could’ve just said 蕎麦屋 rather than そば屋", since I can actually read the latter, but not the former. And my guess is that's why they write in kana; to be easier for people who don't know all their kanji.

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  • [–] 25 points 1 month ago

    There's even a scene in the Yakuza games where some characters go to a fancy restaurant and the menus are all in kanji. One of them admits he can't read the menu and the rest of them say they're having a hard time too. The owner then says it's common and that maybe he should update the menus to include kana to get with the times.

    I figured this must be at least a somewhat common experience if the devs decided to include a scene like that.

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