English has been trending in Japan for quite a long time. Recently it seems that Korean is taking its place, thanks to Korean boybands and TV dramas, but English still prevails as an important marketing tool in Japan. It can give that air of exoticness or refined European style, without requiring the reader to learn a new alphabet, unlike Korean. Even the local supermarket is trying it out on the side of their vending machine!
However, when words start becoming more complex, and are neither commonly used words nor easily pronounced for Japanese, it can become a problem. For example, when a chain of cafés called “Excelsior” first appeared, no one knew how to pronounce it. Excelsior could have helped by putting a katakana (phonetic) pronunciation on their signs, but they didn’t and people were going there without knowing the name of the place.
KFC has a pronunciation guide. ケンタッキー (kentakkii) on the right of the sign below is how Japanese people refer to KFC (“Kentucky”).
McDonald’s is an interesting case. Their recent restaurants have signs just like in the US.
But of course, McDonald’s is a household name here now. Even for someone who doesn’t know the roman alphabet, just by the shape and colour of the letters they would be able to read it. However, not every business has the luxury of being a household name, and McDonald’s was once one of those businesses. Check out their older signs.
That is totally in katakana, so is very easily pronounced, and on top of that, it explains what sort of restaurant it is! Just in case you didn’t know what sort of restaurant it is, it says “McDonald’s Hamburgers” (マクドナルドハンバーガー, makudonarudo hanbaagaa).
