Japanese Product Poetry

22 Mar 2007 Category: Features, Graphics, Japan

Japanese Product Poetry

Though shortened, this is quite an inspirational citation from Charles Baudelaire for a folder by Delfonics. Imagine filing your boring work documents in this one...

Even if you only stay on a short trip in Japan, you will get in touch with “product poetry”: small texts – almost like poems – written in a ‘foreign’ language and placed on several kinds of Japanese consumer goods. Anything from sandwiches to beer, energy drinks, cookies, cosmetics, stationary, home appliances, T-shirts and others. When we choose to write about “product poetry” respectfully, it is to introduce this detail of Japanese (packaging) design which developed a little life of its own. This article explains: 1. how ‘product poetry’ gives a product an overall foreign, non-Japanese touch; 2. how it creates a mystical fantasy world relating to the product - beyond it’s function (for those who can read it); 3. where the true beauty lies in the arrangement of these few lines of free, playful text.

Written by Bianca Beuttel

Product poetry is most probably an intriguing subject to foreigners in Japan: within the flood of Japanese characters and the lack of their understanding, any word written in alphabetic letters immediately leaps to the eye. On the contrary - these words are originally designed for an audience, which - in most cases - will never seriously read them anyway. The question is - why?

Tasty tastes: sandwich packaging by Sunkus, left and top right, and am/pm, bottom right.

“…the wind in the meadows” from another sandwich (no special brand). Does this sandwich contain ham or tuna or could it be vegetarian? This is certainly no product ‘information’ but product ‘emotion’.

Although we now call it ‘product poetry’ in this article, it is actually something that can be found anywhere - on websites, travel brochures, interior design, restaurant menus…

I imagine the design process to something like this: a young graphic designer gathers a few (mostly English) words in the layout - until the design needs to be finalized, a native English speaker comes around to check - and with a few modifications back and forth, some flowery words relating to the product are set to make you smile and give you an overall ‘warm fuzzy feeling’. The typography of the poems themselves also puts a stress more on ornamentation than on readability: often in small font size, the words are mainly set to balance the layout.

“Let yourself go…” from Asahi

“The taste of luxury” also by Asahi

“Refreshing flavours” by Sapporo

After studying these sentences on the beer label, you are convinced that – whatever your choice will be – this is absolutely the best you can get. However, if you have chosen the one in the middle, you may miss the fact, that you actually only get a beer-like drink, as its malt percentage is reduced to cheat the Japanese tax-system…

These texts neither function as objective product description nor are meant to assist foreigners. Far from that, referring to James Stanlaw term of the Beautiful Human Life, it is a foreign language inspired Japanese created solely for Japanese consumers.

Asking any Japanese person about this product poetry, this quickly reveals that it is just for creating a mood (since nobody really reads it…). The alphabet functions as a kind of decoration to make the products look more western… You would certainly not find foreign poetry on Onigiri (rice balls) - unless they are a new kind of rice balls with Italian tomato and basil taste, maybe.

Now the fascinating question is If nobody really reads it anyway, why bother putting so much effort into a lovely sounding sentence?

Although there might be a spelling mistake here and there, you can tell that every little ‘poem’ is thought about! It is no nonsense! For decoration purpose dummy text would be enough, but these texts are emotionally associated with situations the product may be used in and they tell us pretty much about our expectations and attitudes towards it.

Have you ever thought about the different reasons for having a cup of coffee? Canned coffee makers did and provide for each situation a special one: top left by Wonda, top right by Roots, bottom left and right by Blendy.

Product poetry can be described as illustrations with words, and thoughts of Japanese traditional poetry forms like ‘haiku’ are unavoidable: just a few words that can unfold a universe in the recipient’s mind.

In contrast to commonly known messages on T-shirts, product poetry focuses less on expressing the attitude of its wearer to the outside. It whispers its message more intimately into the mind of the customer – to stimulate his or her feelings.

Simply the fact that such embroidered words are related to trivial consumer goods makes product poetry worth the considering. Many of the “poems” sound like extended versions of advertising copies. They explain the product philosophy, “invite” to positive feelings or appeal to the customer. This matches well with the routine of Japanese companies to emphasize their tireless efforts to satisfy the customers’ high demands.

When flattery and promises are expressed in more unexpected ways, “product poetry” creates a surprisingly new point of view concerning the product, and delights.

Can you imagine a more charming way to convince a girl to put on mascara (by déjàvu)?

“Corporate poetry” of free plus cosmetics

Nevertheless, there are also kinds of “product poetry” that accompany you much longer than those on packages you soon throw away. You can find a lot of “poems” on home appliances like mahoubin (big thermos jugs), light switches, toilet articles, mugs, towels…

A mahoubin is special type of Japanese home appliance: an electric water jug combined with thermos function. Also, the picture in the title above is from such a device.

But the best chances to find “product poetry” would certainly be on stationery:

Although English is widely used in product poetry as it is the most comprehensible language, crafters like Delfonics or Hightide also employ typography in other foreign tongues like German, French, Italian, etc.

Even if the people don’t get the message, they can probably recognize the language due to their unique letters (like the Umlaut in German ‘ü’, ‘ö’, ‘ä’, the French accents like é, or the Scandinavian ø) and are inspired by a cosmopolitan flair and the appealing aura of those countries.

Clipboard by Hightide - although ‘nähe’ is the only German word here (meaning to sow!?), this might just be enough to give you that certain push for order and cleanliness…

The seemingly frequent use of German for stationery (often for filing) reveals also a bit of the image this nation has here: by using these items your work might become more ‘well-organized’ and ‘effective’.

Notepad by Delfonics, “praktisch” is German and means “practical”.

Talking about saving time or using time efficiently on a weekly planner…

‘Bleistiftfall’ - a newly created word meaning something like the ‘free fall of a pencil’ - quite poetic for a simple pencil case!

Another folder with German texts by Delfonics: “Werkzeug” means “tool”, whereas the rest of the text reads: ‘We don’t learn for school, but we learn for life’. German seems to be in a very odd place right now. Not only favoured for stationary, Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit points out in her guide book “T-Shirt-Texte und andere Inschriften” (T-shirt imprints and other inscriptions), that German is not only a language of matter but moreover we can witness a change of it becoming extremely fashionable.

Because of its close connection to commercial purposes, “product poetry” may be blamed to tempt consumption by blank promises. But like literature, “product poetry” can be regarded as fiction as well as it doesn’t have to be necessarily true. It is a wonderland where we can play and explore new experiences - and there are certainly multiple interpretations possible.

discussion provoking PET-bottle design by DyDo

The border to irony is often blurred and it can be questioned whether the creators are serious about their message or want to demonstrate the absurdity of consumerism. Thus “product poetry” becomes a subversion inside the system, a criticism encoded in exaggerating pathos and cushioned by the safe distance of a foreign language…

Grammatically correct German on one of Graniph’s T-shirts. However, it feels a bit odd to have such rather stiffly written message about *I am on cloud nine -my heart was jumping of joy* on a shirt. I guess this oddness, is what makes Graniph such a hit!

Where as you might still shake your head and not get it, an interesting example is Japanese huge T-shirt hit seller Graniph. With very strong, bold graphics often involving typography, they sell their shirts in high-speed for a very reasonable price - and it seems that their predominant use for text is German. Looking around in the international community in Tokyo, it is also interesting that countless foreigners wear Graniph shirts. Now why is that, I wonder?

Here is my little theory:
Although product poetry was originally designed as a graphic balance and stopgap enhancing the product’s qualities and adding that little extra romantic element for Japanese customers, it has now gone beyond that.

One of the main people working at Graniph’s office in Tokyo is German - so why should there still be so much slightly odd German on the shirts? Or odd English next to it? I believe that the slightly unusual way of writing product poetry has its charm. The fact that it isn’t perfect is just what you need to dream off - thus creating your own story with the bits of text given. Therefore this makes it highly enjoyable for both Japanese and foreigners living in Japan: an ornamental decoration with extra info on the one hand side, and an imperfect utopia for ‘foreign language speakers’ on the other.**

‘Es Dringen Bluten Aus Jedem Zweig’: the tiny mistake of writing a ‘U’ instead of a ‘Ü’ twists the text from ‘flowers blossoming from a branch’ to ‘blood runs out of every branch’. Nice!

Why don’t you go out? There is a “poetry reading” at almost every corner in Tokyo! Find and enjoy your favorite ones!

44 Comments

  1. Beautiful examples, I especially liked the Dejavu Fiberwig!

    I think here we see a combination of Japanese tendermindedness and love of the exotic. Other nations are exoticized freely. This can even extend to other Asian nations — there was a craze for Korean graphics towards the end of the 90s, on sleeves by Pizzicato 5 and Cornelius, for example. In fact, I’d even say the Japanese are capable of exoticizing themselves. Your recent piece on sake labels might be an example.

    And yes, the mistakes are crucial. Anyone who’s used translation software will know that it renders gorgeous poetry, especially between Japanese and English.

    Posted by: Momus on March 22nd, 2007 at 8:36 pm

  2. Oh. My. God. Do you really like those “poems”!? Not only are they mostly stupid but incredibly annoying too! The worst one I saw in Japan was on some sort of chewing gum: “A tasty breath-freshening gum for your mouth”. Thats like “Oh, I didn’t know I have to put that into my mouth. Thanks for telling me!”.

    Also, nearly ALL the German texts/poems are wrong and/or pointless. Thats not only my point of view, it’s just how it is :-) Nähe, for example, means “closeness/proximity” (dict.leo.org) (actually “nähen” with a N at the end means “sewing”). Can you see a relation between closeness and well.. stationary? Unfortunately I can’t. I don’t want to comment on “Praktisch Notizblock” or the others ones but rest assured: when you learn German by looking at those things nobody in Germany will understand you :-/

    Posted by: Mark on March 22nd, 2007 at 9:28 pm

  3. mark…are you making fun?

    Posted by: chrisp on March 22nd, 2007 at 9:44 pm

  4. Some priceless stuff here. I <3 my pingmag.

    Posted by: Silent K on March 22nd, 2007 at 10:33 pm

  5. SouthEastOne is an online graphic art fashion boutique based in London, SE1. We design T-shirts, prints and other designer items for sale

    Posted by: SouthEastOne on March 22nd, 2007 at 11:17 pm

  6. i love this stuff. i have read some amazing ones on greeting cards. like: “the wind of my love, touches trees and makes the happy ski awake”

    i think that’s actually quite romantic. :D

    Posted by: howsthatsound on March 23rd, 2007 at 12:06 am

  7. i think that last one was the best… Blood runs out of every branch

    my god isn’t that perfect inspiration??

    Posted by: dendoo on March 23rd, 2007 at 12:50 am

  8. I once had a bottle of locally produced red wine in Sth Korea that was made using the ‘Classical Music Method’….never got to the bottom of it.

    Posted by: Rory Dodd on March 23rd, 2007 at 1:36 am

  9. [...] Läs om Japanese product poetry på >>PingMag » Archive » Japanese Product Poetry [...]

    Posted by: gustafsblogg :: produktpoesi :: March :: 2007 on March 23rd, 2007 at 1:38 am

  10. this is our website (I hope) if it’s got Shantell on it you’re in the right place, that other site isn’t us.

    Posted by: Rory Dodd on March 23rd, 2007 at 1:53 am

  11. I read an interesting theory by a Japanese linguist about these foreign phrases in advertising. She said that putting English text next to Japanese is not intended to give a “foreign image” to a product, it is intended to reinforce the “innate Japanese-ness” of the product. The Japanese-ness becomes more apparent when contrasted with the foreign-ness of the roman text.
    I think this is a variation on the old advertising technique of “tension-relaxation.” Hey, is that English? Ooh, weird.. oh, no the label is mostly Japanese, this must be a Japanese product, whew.

    Posted by: Charles on March 23rd, 2007 at 1:55 am

  12. So much of what is called “Engrish” (with an ‘R’ instead of ‘L’) comes from these ‘Product Poetries’. What’s so much more poetic than the carefully planned and proof-read texts are the more accidental ones, where what is written turns out to be completely different from what the writer had intended to say.

    Posted by: Ren on March 23rd, 2007 at 5:33 am

  13. This is a great article! I love product poetry.. it is definitely like a game to read and interpret, find mistakes, etc..
    i had a schedule book from Japan that had a product poem which became my mantra:
    Let’s make a program first of all, Don’t waste your time.

    hell yeah! not wastin any time!!

    Posted by: natalie on March 23rd, 2007 at 6:28 am

  14. This one I took the other day describes all of humanity:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/tokyofortwo/424742358/

    Posted by: Joseph on March 23rd, 2007 at 9:14 am

  15. I particularly like the DyDo packaging.

    Posted by: aaron on March 23rd, 2007 at 9:59 am

  16. I am afraid most of people have no time to read the poetry carefully. life rhythm is too fast. but it can be a symbol of a creative and civilized society

    Posted by: keanu on March 23rd, 2007 at 11:45 am

  17. similarities with http://www.engrish.com ? Except these make more sense, I guess.

    Posted by: Angie on March 23rd, 2007 at 2:45 pm

  18. [...] 23rd, 2007 · No Comments A lovely article from the fantastic Pingmag about brands with clear voice, promise and attitude, which are very well spoken on the wordy [...]

    Posted by: PRODUCT POETRY in JAPAN « on March 23rd, 2007 at 7:13 pm

  19. love your article. always so very nice to learn more about the intricacies of japanese design.
    btw.: the german word ‘nähe’ means ‘closeness’.

    all the best,
    mat

    Posted by: mat on March 23rd, 2007 at 8:45 pm

  20. sorry, someone already hinted at that ‘nähe’ thing. i was to eager to write something here for the first time. very sorry!

    Posted by: mat on March 23rd, 2007 at 8:47 pm

  21. but i have to say that i love the ‘poetry’ about it. products are not really meant to learn a language by, are they? especially the wrong usage of a language can lead to very interesting and genuine results. and: poetry is all about suggesting something/leading the direction/conveying an image (maybe blurred) than really describing something ‘in a correct way’, isn’t it?

    Posted by: mat on March 23rd, 2007 at 8:55 pm

  22. Some fascinating insights - I will take far more notice of these in future. I love the idea of wise words found in unexpected places.

    Posted by: sal on March 24th, 2007 at 7:32 pm

  23. The German stuff is really weird. Really, really weird. Some sentences seem to be straight out of a textbook (Zeitersparnis: Saving time. Time just flies by. He is always punctual. - eh?). Germans also like to spell some words with Capital letters (like nouns), if this is done wrong (as it is in your examples) it gives the whole thing something really strange.
    I like the Englisch “poetry” but the German sentences have some sort of Frankenstein quality.

    Posted by: Cara on March 25th, 2007 at 5:24 am

  24. Har har, English poetry of course.

    Posted by: Cara on March 25th, 2007 at 5:25 am

  25. [...] “Keep in a cool and dark place and be careful of the lingering scent.” Not exactly the product poetry I was hoping for, but the tea was [...]

    Posted by: words » Blog Archive » adventu-ramen on March 25th, 2007 at 11:58 am

  26. engrish rocks…. makes u feel all warm and fuzzy and does subtle persuasion strangely well. Go Engrish consumer writers!

    when your heart feels down, make yourself feel zesty with a cup of juice!

    Posted by: Maki on March 27th, 2007 at 4:13 pm

  27. Some fascinating insights - I will take far more notice of these in future. I love the idea of wise words found in unexpected places. -sal
    (cheers! =3)

    Posted by: chocomerry on March 28th, 2007 at 5:10 pm

  28. I’m curious about the process that actually takes place when they come up with these words. I highly doubt that any native speaker of English comes into play, because I’m always looking at these things (especially on pens and stationery) thinking, damn they really should have gotten someone to edit this! Especially since everyone in Japan nowadays is learning English in school, so I bet they pretty much trust their own second language instincts..

    Posted by: sachio on March 31st, 2007 at 11:12 am

  29. In the case that the products are addressed to foreign consumers who understand the poems,it makes sense to use them. If someone can’t understand the meaning of the poem, it is not quite useful for communication. Nevertheless, it could raise the consumers curiosity towards the text and to the product as well.

    Posted by: Brigitte Schuster on April 3rd, 2007 at 9:10 pm

  30. [...] Japanese Product Poetry A great article on English as it is used in Japanese product design (also, Engrish) (tags: japan design) [...]

    Posted by: Fried Chicken Arcade on April 5th, 2007 at 8:25 pm

  31. [...] capital letters, “MY NANA LOVES ME.”) Tokyo-based design magazine PingMag, however, has a nice article about Japlish (being given the more politically-correct term “Japanese Product Poetry,” in this case) [...]

    Posted by: 8 Asians » The Design Aesthetics of Japlish on April 6th, 2007 at 12:55 pm

  32. lovely stuff!

    Posted by: Administrator on April 11th, 2007 at 12:53 pm

  33. i love the germanese highland shirt! i’ll send some spanishnese designs someday

    Posted by: mexist on April 16th, 2007 at 4:37 pm

  34. I really enjoyed this article… I’ve always wondered about the English text on Japanese products, and you’ve provided me with a nice amount of insight on the relationship between the two languages and on Japanese mainstream culture in general. Thanks!

    Posted by: Kristine on April 17th, 2007 at 12:17 pm

  35. advertising really comes with magic!

    Posted by: kreame on April 23rd, 2007 at 12:55 am

  36. [...] Pingmag published an article about japanese product poetry. Great indeed. Do we have any kind of product poetry? Besides Fulga whose backpack text is funny. [...]

    Posted by: Felipov » Blog Archive » product poetry on April 26th, 2007 at 3:01 am

  37. [...] clipped from pingmag.jp [...]

    Posted by: Imagination « Gabriel In Taipei on May 1st, 2007 at 2:49 pm

  38. [...] When flattery and promises are expressed in more unexpected ways, “product poetry” creates a surprisingly new point of view concerning the product, and delights. - Pingmag [...]

    Posted by: Night Pearls And Sweet at motel de moka on September 19th, 2007 at 3:00 pm

  39. great found, well japanese apparently do able to use perfect english, show that to people that always mock japanese.

    Posted by: future designs on September 22nd, 2007 at 8:57 pm

  40. i think that last one was the best

    Posted by: angie on September 25th, 2007 at 3:23 am

  41. For the ‘Bleistiftfall’: I think this is more of a translation error than an attempt at poetry. ‘Fall’ in Germany can mean ‘case’, in the sense of ‘In that case’ or ‘In any case’, or also a legal case, but not in the sense of a pencilcase. It’s the kind of problem that arises out of online translation programs. However, in this case, the result is kind of poetic. :)

    Posted by: Jo on December 20th, 2007 at 9:06 pm

  42. [...] Check out this piece over at PingMag, which presents a serious discussion about what we call “Engrish” and what they call “product poetry.” Even if you only stay on a short trip in Japan, you will get in touch with “product poetry”: small texts – almost like poems – written in a ‘foreign’ language and placed on several kinds of Japanese consumer goods. Anything from sandwiches to beer, energy drinks, cookies, cosmetics, stationary, home appliances, T-shirts and others. When we choose to write about “product poetry” respectfully, it is to introduce this detail of Japanese (packaging) design which developed a little life of its own. This article explains: 1. how ‘product poetry’ gives a product an overall foreign, non-Japanese touch; 2. how it creates a mystical fantasy world relating to the product - beyond it’s function (for those who can read it); 3. where the true beauty lies in the arrangement of these few lines of free, playful text. [...]

    Posted by: Product poetry on April 9th, 2008 at 12:01 pm

  43. I really enjoy the japanese design for products, but I don´t agree with you -“product poetry”?
    Advertising is made to sell, final point.

    Posted by: Luna on April 19th, 2008 at 5:25 am

  44. Great post! I really love product poetry.

    Posted by: yosax on April 25th, 2008 at 3:04 am

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