So typically when I have free time at schools I try to study Japanese or do something Japanese related to better understand this culture I live in. Most of the time when I encounter a new word I look it up in a dictionary, but sometimes dictionaries are boring and lack context for the word I’m searching. So for fun I use Google Japan’s image search to see what images the word brings up.

Today I noticed one of my schools (Ohata ES) had picked up on a unique type of slogan.

Every classroom has one of these banners and every hallway has a flag saying the same thing. The banner has only three important words on it, 「夢、挑戦、そして未来へ」 or in Romanji, ‘Yume, Chousen, soshite Mirai e”

So what does the slogan mean? Well there’s probably a number of ways to translate it/read it via a dictionary, but I thought it’d be more fun to run it by Google Japan’s Image Search just to see what comes up for these words. So this was the result: (click for biggie size)

Google’s result for yume (Dream) is a pink wish-granting genie Elephant,

Chousen yields a Japanese man punching through his underwear,

and Mirai comes up with two kids with a dog from like the ’60’s with flying space age things & tube trains.

These are the ideals the school wants in schools? Heh, maybe not exactly but I think it’d be fun to think so. 😀

~J

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