So whats the story behind this word? [Google says it means: “turtledove”]
The reason they look is that the first kanji is, I believe, rather unusual (there’s also a place called Ikaruga, although I don’t think it’s the sort of place people buy t-shirts from).
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I totally agree with @riccyjay - I think you’re overthinking some of the negative responses you’ve been getting about this t-shirt idea. Fair enough, not everyone likes the idea but that’s their personal choice, it’s not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. At worst, someone might read it and think you’re a bit of a weirdo but there’s no harm in that. And best case scenario, you end up having really interesting conversations with people who might otherwise never even speak to foreigners because they’re worried about their English.
Also, you’re in no way a “horrible, boorish American”. I mean you’re learning the language, thinking about how to fit in, how to get to know the country and the people better, you’re clearly the whole opposite!
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Koichi said himself on the podcast that he has done it several times if I remember correctly.
That sort of stuff highly depends on the local culture.
Hello neighbor! 
I really try to avoid that subreddit. Everybody is seems so negative, and Japanese MUST be done a certain way and when in Japan you MUST do this and that. I highly doubt many of them have ever been to Japan. I once told a guy who wanted to speak Osaka-ben that he should just do it because Osakans would be stoked on it and try to help him (speaking as someone who speaks Osaka-ben and has lived in Osaka for 4-ish years) and they went nuts!
Just do what you want, you might have a super rad experience for giving it a shot or make a friend, or god-forbid actually speak Japanese with someone.
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I really appreciate everyone’s supportive words. Thank you everyone for taking the time to be encouraging and sweet to me.
That said, I’ve taken the idea past a few different nihonjin, and the response has been universally, and in some case direly negative. My italki tutor this morning said that it was " 恥ずかしい" and that people would assume “頭が変”. I’ll take it to my conversation group tomorrow and see if anyone else feels different, but I still feel like it would be disrespectful to be so disruptive. I didn’t even think about it at first, but I suppose that’s cultural exchange for you. Looking silly in the states is NBD, but there it might really cause some people to feel upset, so it’s best if I don’t.
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Why don’t you do the opposite instead? Use 英語 instead of 日本語. Using 日本語 might be seen as a brag. On the other hand, being able to speak English might seem completely natural to Japanese people because you look like a foreigner. However, because the sentence is in Japanese, it’s intrinsic that atleast you know some Japanese.
I wouldn’t pay the /r/LearnJapanese redditors any mind. To be honest I’d say that sub has a good deal of snobishness and elitism from what I’ve seen relative to most other subreddits. People downvote half of the main page. Its really not the most positive place to learn Japanese.
In fact I’ve had people tell me about how much they hate WK on that sub, or belittle me for not being good enough with computers to make my own anki decks.
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I wouldn’t worry about it being socially disruptive, but that said, it’s not the best way to engage strangers in conversations. Generally weird props and costumes are only ways to start conversations if you’re literally working for an on-the-street tv gameshow, or I guess if you’re one of those pick-up artist douchebags. Otherwise, it’s just really awkward– like wearing a ren fair outfit or a cosplay, but like with no intention of going to a ren fair or a convention.
If you just want to talk to random strangers in japanese, and you’re an of-age adult, a bar is always a fine choice. That’s kind of what bars are for all over the world– people go there to drink but also to meet other people– and it’s especially the norm for the smaller style bars in Golden Gai and the like in Japan. Granted, you prolly ought to either buy other patrons (or the bartender, whoever it is you want to converse with) a drink, and beware of course of the implications of buying drinks for single people of the opposite gender, but it’s a perfectly fine way to start up conversation.
The best thing about this approach is that it puts the control in the other person’s hands about weather or not they want to talk to you. I expect that 99% of the people will ignore or not notice it, but if you are able to strike a conversation with 1 person in say 15 minutes of trying, it is a huge win. People in Japan are VERY receptive to foreigners trying to study Japanese - even those that don’t want to talk will greatly admire your attempts. Let us know how it works out!
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By the way, Rachel & Jun (j-vloggers) sell these shirts.
(images are clickable)
I like that they say why you want to talk in Japanese (“I’m studying Japanese. Please talk to me.”).
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I was actually toying with this idea, too, but thinking more along the lines of writing a A3 paper sign and getting on the Yamatone line. Though I don’t know if I would actually dare, since my Japanese is terribly basic. How to formulate that would therefore also interest me.
Personnally, I think that a t-shirt gets more ignored than a sign because its less obvious that you really want to talk. That being said, the t-shirts rfindley posted do look rather nice and obvious
The only thing I would suggest is to make で会話しましょう into one line, because centering text like that can confuse the reader. I work in a Japanese IT company as a UI/UX designer, so I gotta take care of this stuff. Other than that, great design! Good luck!
Great idea, and great T-Shirt (excellent design).
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