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Quick questions.

LewiiG

先輩
27 Dec 2012
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1. Why/how are so many Japanese people's usernames in roman letters? (on youtube for example?)

2. Why are the menus in most Japanese games written in English? (With small Japanese text somewhere saying what it means)

Is it all just preference for displaying things in English/roman alphabet? They prefer it?

Just wondering why people would go to the extra effort to do something like that. I understand that English is mandatory up to a certain point over there, so I assume they are able to write and understand what they are creating.

If it is just preference, then I understand completely and I have no further questions.
 
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1. Because character encoding was (and still is) a pain when it comes to computers. So it might just be a technical limitation, just like you can't put hiragana or kanjis inside an email address.

2. Because it looks modern and "cool"? ;) Any Japanese person will understand the meaning of "Start" or "Game Over". I think it also depends a lot on the type of the game, I saw several games with Japanese-only buttons.
 
Thanks! I had no idea about the email address thing and limitations like that...

I've played games with menus like that, yeah. It depends.

Now I think I can finally understand the reasoning as to why English is in a lot of things that are designed specifically for Japan, and why one may prefer ABC rather than kana or something. Basically aesthetics and "coolness" lol.

Thanks again :)
 
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