What does the Japanese on the bands 1996 Xmas card mean?
Elastica’s 1996 Xmas Card This latest explanation is from Andrew Morse. Thanks to Matt Nicholls for passing it on. I saw the discussion of the Japanese text on an Elastica page and just wanted to weigh in. The big headline says simply “recycling.” There is no subject or object of the recycling, although the implication is that recycling is a worthy endeavor. The first line of small text is literally “generic.” It is also the name of a company that makes generic products — everything from pens and pencils to hot pots and the like — but has become a brandname in and of itself. (I believe the company is publicly traded.) The small text underneath that reads “shonen nouto,” or “youngster’s notebook.” The biggest mystery is the large character to the extreme left of the line of large text. To the best of my knowledge, it isn’t a character, and, as such, has no meaning. Judging from the handwriting, this wasn’t written by a native Japanese. I suspect that it was something copied by a non-J
