Why you me?

Across the inlet from my father's ancestral house on the Inland Sea in the village of Urasaki, Japan, I can barely see the red and white sign atop a Japanese department store called “you me town.”

It’s a typically quirky example of how English words are used in Japan, and although it's the name of a commercial enterprise, it reflects human relationship. Also there are some linguistic connotations: "you" pronounced "yo-oo" means drunk in Japanese, and "me" (pronounced "meh") is eye. And the Japanese word "yume" (pronounced yoo-meh) means dream. “yumi” (pronounced yoo-mee) is a common name.


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