'If Ginza line is not stylish, what else can be?'

[Taro Toporific]

"If Ginza line is not stylish, what else can be?" <-- Copywriters should consider dropping these kind of questions.
pic.twitter.com/pO7ochgsng Mulboyne (@Mulboyne) January 5, 2015

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tokyometro.jp/corporate/ad/campaign...

The Ginza Line--- home to wheelchair ramps ending in stairs and its Shibuya Terminus (5th busiest in Japan) with elevators (closed at 10pm) going to only one half of the line---is undergoing a "reform." Refer to: ginza-line-engrish.jpg[/attachment]tokyometro.jp/corporate/ad/campaign...

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[legion]

The kanji for oshare is interesting, it is not the kanji for osake tho at a glance it resembles it.

I think by renewal they mean they are going to be putting shops in the stations, which I think is the opposite to what they should do, I'd like to see a law made to make it an obligation for a passenger to be able to exit a station without going through or past a shop.

[matsuki]

The Ginza Line--- home to wheelchair ramps ending in stairs and its Shibuya Terminus (5th busiest in Japan) with elevators (closed at 10pm) going to only one half of the line---is undergoing a "reform."

I'm guessing the "there are no handicapped people in Japan" mentality has been overruled by "poor grandma and grandpa can't get around like they used to"or "What will the gaijin think come 2020?! "

[Taro Toporific]

The kanji for oshare is interesting, it is not the kanji for osake tho at a glance it resembles it.

I don’t really get why the copywriter would want to use the shortened kanji for 洒落 (o)share [fashionable] when it’s almost always written in hiragana おしゃれ oshare or in full kanji お洒落 (with the “o” honorific) not just share 洒落, which means ‘pun’ in Japanese. :-/

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Anyway, the Tokyo Metro produced a “secret” video of their remodeling of the Ginza Line that nobody has seen.

[Yokohammer]

The kanji for oshare is interesting, it is not the kanji for osake tho at a glance it resembles it.

I don’t really get why the copywriter would want to use the shortened kanji for 洒落 (o)share [fashionable] when it’s almost always written in hiragana おしゃれ oshare or in full kanji お洒落 (with the “o” honorific) not just share 洒落, which means ‘pun’ in Japanese. :-/

mysterious-kanji.gif

My take:

A more accurate translation might be:

"The idea that the Ginza line is unfashionable is no joke." Or more simply "An unfashionable Ginza line is no joke."

洒落てない = unfashionable
洒落にならない = no joke (in the sense of being unacceptable).

洒落にならない" is never said or written with an "お," neither is the "洒落てる" form. The writer chose to write both lines that way to most effectively play the two "洒落" off each other.

Having said that ... I don't think it's very effective copy, but I'm pretty sure that's the reasoning behind it.

[Taro Toporific]

"The idea that the Ginza line is unfashionable is no joke." Or more simply "An unfashionable Ginza line is no joke."

洒落てない = unfashionable
洒落にならない = no joke (in the sense of being unacceptable).

洒落にならない" is never said or written with an "お," neither is the "洒落てる" form. The writer chose to write both lines that way to most effectively play the two "洒落" off each other.

Thanks. That makes perfect sense. Normally, I just ignore such vagaries of Japanese since the "joke" is hardly worth the effort---Maybe I ought to pay closer attention.

[matsuki]

Well...it's not like ineffective/flacid text in Japanese "marketing" is an everyday occurrence.