Hi, relatively new user here. I started learning Japanese in March and WaniKani in May. One unexpectedly fun part of this journey is starting to understand symbols that I’ve been surrounded with for years (I live near San Francisco, where it’s not uncommon to see Kanji). Even realizing the meaning of the names of my favorite sushi restaurants has been a pleasant surprise. I generally hate when people say that real life reminds them of a video game… but I’m about to do that. It’s an amazing feeling to suddenly be able to decode secret messages I’ve been walking right past and ignoring for so long (some of which are printed on items inside my own house). It really feels like a level up, or a superpower.
Another fun thing is that I am “seeing” kana and Kanji in the shapes of everyday objects. I figured for sure I would find some conversations online where others were describing the same phenomenon, but I’m coming up empty. A similar thing happened with (here we go again) a video game I played several years ago (The Witness), but in that case I was able to find others talking about it. There’s an entire subreddit (arguably with game spoilers) dedicated to it (don’t go to that sub if you haven’t yet played the game).
So, in the event that this discussion has not yet happened on this forum, I decided to come up with a (hopefully) clever name. My best thus far is pareidoji or パレイド字 (see here and here for reference), but I am open to other options.
Finally, below are some examples from recent memory. Please share your own!
Just tonight, 10 minutes ago, I found 入 in a ladder:
Two days ago, while driving, I found フ on my map:
It’s only a “partial match”, but I drive past this sign daily, and I always see す:
Last week I was hiking (ironically with the person who inspired me to learn Japanese) in an area with many horseshoe prints. I realized that from the right angle, they all become つ (not my photo):
