Shops use Gallic names to sell wares; Japan bends FrenchTOKYO,(RTRS) 15 Aug: "Boulangerie", "La Fabrique", "Atelier Yamagata" - reading the names on the shop fronts, you would be forgiven for thinking you were in Paris..... Oscar Favre, a spokesman at the French embassy, which regularly gets requests for advice on how to name new businesses. "A man who planned to open three bakeries wanted a nice, short French word for 'little boy who holds out a loaf of bread'. I had to disappoint him," Favre said.
Most companies do not bother seeking advice, and use anything that sounds French, even if it makes no sense at all. The Japanese have merrily mangled English for decades, and they have no hang-ups about doing the same to French... Funny French is not hard to find in Tokyo. The store directory in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo's newest shopping complex, is bound to raise Gallic eyebrows. "Relacher trois rounds", "ete beau" and "murmure d'air" are just three examples of free-style French. "Musee imaginaire" (Imaginary museum), the name of a household goods store, does make grammatical sense, even if it does not conjure up crockery. .
