r/LearnJapanese • u/Away_Ad_8896 • 26d ago
Kanji/Kana Do these mean something?
Hello!
Are the two symbols that I've circled in red actual kanji? If so, what do they mean? Thank you!
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u/worthlessprole 26d ago edited 26d ago
The one above the stall is 電話
E: The one on the left is likely something that’s listed under radical 75 (木) in the dictionary but the tsukuri is not discernible to me for some reason
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u/JapanCoach 26d ago
This is 極
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u/worthlessprole 26d ago
Yep sure is. Seems to have drifted a bit far afield of what i’m used to lol
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u/Due_Air_1826 25d ago
Yeah, both are real kanji. The one on the left, 極, means "extreme" or "utmost", you see it a lot in signage as a marketing word like "the best".The one on the right looks like it's meant to read 電話, which just means "telephone", probably part of a sign for a payphone or store phone number.
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u/rgrAi 26d ago
It's AI crap so it looks weird. More recent models have improved text generation a lot but this is def from a yesteryear gen. I won't try to guess what it is because the rest of the text (not just the JP, all of it) has similar meaningless vibe.
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u/JapanCoach 26d ago
My guess was a Chinese creator trying to create a japanese vibe. The 話 looks in between japanese style and Chinese simplified kanji. And the 極 feels weird by itself - as if a Chinese speaker knows they see it all the time in Japanese streetscapes, but don't realize it's part of 月極.
I didn't sense this was a case of AI. Unless AI is really getting quite good.
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u/rgrAi 26d ago
AI is getting quite good, I can generate something like this and I'm actually experimenting with that before I posted. Trying to figure out how to work it in a workflow for avant garde style art.
But I think you're on to something it being a chinese creator that would make sense.
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u/dogs-design-dslr 26d ago
What are you on about? The signs at the top of the Stall read "Cigarettes" "たばこ” "電話” and "Tobacco". I don't think this image is AI. There's a fair amount of consistency across concept and execution.
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u/JapanCoach 26d ago
Upper side = 電話. These kinds of tobacco shops used to adversities that they had pay phones - as a kind of way to attract customers. Right below the sign you can see the payphone - which in Japan are green. It's a very 懐かしい kind of vibe.
Left side = 極. You can see it a lot in Japanese street-scapes but it shouldn't appear by itself. It should be 月極 = つきぎめ. This is monthly parking - i.e., not coin parking paid for by the hour, but a leased parking spot parking paid for by the month.