Why do some anime in Japanese contain English?

Question

It seems that many anime and manga aired or printed in Japanese, before they are dubbed or localized, contain English text or lyrics.

I've tagged a couple of examples here.

The first is from Digimon Tamers, wherein there are a couple English lines within the otherwise Japanese title sequence:

And another example from Neon Genesis Evangelion, where the text on the monitors is printed in English:

There are countless other examples (one I couldn't find was another scene from Tamers in which a beer can reads "BEER"); so, my question is:

Why do these English words make their way into otherwise entirely Japanese productions?

Answer 1

There are two different ways that one can use English words in Japanese.

The first is through loanwords. The Japanese language was more-or-less standardized during the Meiji Restoration, in the late 19th century. Before that, Japan was a very isolated culture for a very long time, so a lot of concepts simply didn't exist in the language. As a result, it was decided that rather than creating new words for all of these concepts, they would just borrow the words from other languages. Most of the words came from English, though there are also some from other western languages.

In this case, the words are written in katakana (カタカナ). There are a very large number of loanwords, but it's fairly standardized what is a loanword and what is not. Also, some of the words are pronounced differently in Japanese than English (e.g. energy becomes エネルギ (enerugi) with a hard g sound). In case it's ambiguous how to pronounce English words in Japanese, these are also usually standardized.

That doesn't really represent a use of English, though. The loanwords are borrowed from English, but both the meanings and pronunciations can be radically different from the English words. They're better described as Japanese words which are based off English words. The examples you've given don't really fall into the above category, but there are many examples like this so it's worth mentioning.

The other way they can use English is just by writing/speaking in English. The examples you've given seem to fall in this category. This is done to sound/look cool, because most people in Japan only hear and see Japanese for most of their day, so it stands out. Since most Japanese people have at least a passable knowledge of English vocabulary (it's part of the standard curriculum), it's a way to make a statement, sort of like how stylized fonts would be used in English except a bit stronger.

Now that we've made that distinction, we can answer the question. The answer to your question "Why do these English words make their way into otherwise entirely Japanese productions?" is that English is fairly common in Japan, not just in anime/manga. This isn't solely a phenomenon about anime/manga, nor am I convinced that it's particularly common in anime and manga. For instance, you can probably spot several instances of English in this picture of advertising in Osaka (I found 3, with another 2 cases of the Roman alphabet being used to write non-English words, and quite a few katakana loanwords as well):

So in summary, it's because English is common in Japanese culture. But that's not a very satisfying answer by itself. Rather than answering the broad question of why modern Japanese culture often uses English (which I think might be better posed at Japanese.SE with some modifications) I'll address the particular cases you have mentioned, in part because a full answer to the former question is probably impossible and in part because it's off-topic.

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Using English is very common in music, where whole lines may be written in (oftentimes broken) English. This is not solely a Japanese phenomenon, as Korean and Chinese pop artists also often use English (Indian pop artists do so very frequently as well, but English is a fairly common language in India). As far as I can tell, it isn't particularly common in anime songs, though of course I don't have any statistics to back that up.

Essentially, it's done in music to sound cool, for the reasons I listed above. It also somewhat expands their audience, since people around the world speak English. I don't know if there's an analogy that would be familiar to people who only speak English, but the closest I could come up with is that Latin is occasionally used in English-language music.

In fact, English use in Japanese music predates J-Pop itself (which is the genre that most anime music falls in). Japanese rock musicians in the 1960s and '70s were mostly inspired by their western counterparts, most notably the Beatles. For a time, Japanese rock singers believed that the Japanese language was too restrictive to be able to sing rock-style, so most of them sung in English (see here). The first really successful band to sing in English was Happy End, but even after that, people continued using English at least occasionally. It's possible to write long academic papers on the use of English in Japanese music, but I'll stop here for brevity.

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For Digimon Tamers, and indeed many series, the title is displayed in English. In fact, most series now have both an English and a Japanese title, which do not always mean the same thing. In the case of Digimon, the word 'Digimon' comes from two English words, 'Digital' and 'Monster'. Tamers is also an English word. The title could be written 「デジモンテイマーズ」, but it's more authentic-looking to use the English title. As for why the title was chosen in English to begin with, again, this is best explained via the rule-of-cool, since English sounds different and interesting. Of course, not all shows do this, and it's mostly a stylistic decision, so it's probably impossible to give a better explanation.

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As for Eva, most computer systems, even in Japan, are based on English. Most programming languages are also based on English. As a result, it seems more authentic (or at least, it did at the time) to have computers and technology things entirely or mostly in English. I don't know if this is changing, now that there are Japanese-language programming languages, operating systems, etc.

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As for "BEER", it is not uncommon in Japan to advertise beer in English. This example is a fairly small company which I found from reading Moyashimon, but it's certainly not uncommon for beer to be written in English. I don't really know why. My suspicion is that this is because beer originated as a western drink.

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I could probably go on for a while, but I think this answer is already too long and there's no point to continuing to list examples, so I'll end it here. As I said above, this might make a good question on Japanese.SE if you phrase it appropriately. It could also make a good question on the proposed Japanese Culture site.

Answer 2

It should be noted that this doesn't just happen in anime. If you were to go to Asian countries where they use Chinese characters (China, Japan, etc.), you will see English text on things such as food products or T-shirts. Sometimes the text is gibberish and makes absolutely no sense at all. They do this in order to make the product more appealing, to have variety. There is not as much variety for Kanji, Katakana, and Hiragana in fonts, e.g, in English, we have fonts such as Times New Roman or Impact. On the other hand, Kanji characters and the like can get confusing if it follows a certain font. It would be easier to read standard Kanji as opposed to reading Kanji in, say, Courier New (if that's even possible).

So, in order to make the characters bigger, to have more impact on their viewers, they use English instead of their own language. You can make the curve on "D" on "Digimon" bigger and you'd still be able to read it as "D" or you can change it to a certain style to fit the anime's genre, but you can't change any part of the character "デ" without it retaining its meaning.

Answer 3

Japan was and is very influenced by Western culture, and Japanese song composers sometimes add in English lyrics into their songs as some sort of "special effect", even though it may not grammatically perfect.

As for Japanese appearing in anime, the producers may be trying to invoke a "foreign" feel to the scene or objects (like the "BEER"). Science-ish elements of an anime (especially computers and monitor text) are most frequently represented in English, using all kinds of technical English nouns and adjectives (as well lots of numbers and symbols), because it invokes the stereotype that Science is this "cool and complex process that cannot be understood".

Answer 4

Depending on the context of the inclusion of English, the reason is different.

Earlier Usage

From early Meiji up through pre-war Japan, English-language education in Japan was stronger than it is now (in other words, Japanese mastery of English has sharply dropped in recent history, and the Japanese government's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology [MEXT] is still attempting to raise the level through a variety of teacher trainings and education reform in hopes of catching up to the current level of English-language education in China, South Korea, and other Asian nations). The older the manga/anime/song is, the more likely the mangaka/screenwriter/lyricist accurately understood English. Older titles feature snippets of English because at that time, more Japanese people had a working grasp of basic English.

Cultural Connotations

In Japanese language and culture, loanwords, garaigo, wasei eigo, and Engrish (each of these terms refer to distinctly different linguistic entities) bear connotations of "new," "cool," and "young"/"youthful," so in Japanese advertising, English words, French words, and katakana are utilized for products that the manufacturer wants to project an innovative or coolness factor, whereas they are intentionally and carefully avoided for products associated with concepts of tradition, vintage, and long-term repute (this is not only true among young Japanese, but is the general association among the populace; you can see this reflected in titles and character names from manga written in the 70s). Manga, anime, and j-pop generally fall into the "novel and exciting" category rather than into the traditional Japanese arts category, so peppering them with English, and Japanese variations on it, contributes to the association of the medium with "contemporary" and "hot." Digimon is definitely a series that wanted to be the "next big thing" in the footsteps of Pokemon, so "new" connotations can only be a plus. The arenas of manga, anime, gaming, and j-pop are very competitive and fans can be fickle; being new and cool is important for a successful launch and for maintaining a prominent place.

Being 'Other'

Returnees (Japanese who lived/studied abroad and have returned to Japan), haafu (people of Japanese descent, such as half-Japanese, half-Caucasian), and international students are sometimes featured as characters in anime and manga. The tenkousei (transfer student) is an enduring theme. Often, the creator of the work concludes that the character needs to speak English, German, or another language (at least once) in the story to evidence having been out of the country. This is an alternate case in which English or Engrish is inserted: while it gives the character a coolness factor, it predominantly provides an 'Other'-ness factor that contrasts the character against the others. The reason this works effectively is that, unlike the earlier generations of Japanese education in English, among young people, English is viewed as very 'Other,' foreign, and difficult: it is not something "we Japanese" speak in daily life; a classmate who can speak fluently is considered a novelty. Because mangaka and anime directors are more likely to have been educated in Japan, such as at the prevalent anime manga seiyuu senmongakkou (anime/manga/voice acting trade schools), they are not the most likely demographic to have studied abroad, worked abroad, or worked in an international company with branches in Japan; this is not to say that none of them are fluent or near-fluent in English or that none of them possess intercultural communication skills, but it is the case that not all of them have a functioning mastery of English or intercultural sensitivity. This may be a factor in why the English or Engrish that anime characters who lived abroad speak is often pronounced in exaggerated stereotyping of non-Japanese as boisterous, loud, outgoing, etc. and that when these characters speak Japanese, they talk in a mispronounced caricature of Japanese that does not accurately reflect the sorts of mispronunciations that actual non-Japanese of varying mother tongues do. This also is done to portray 'Other'-ness.

A Lingua Franca

Among younger Japanese, despite not generally using English themselves communicatively for listening and speaking (most recent and current English education in Japan is grammar-focused reading and writing), it is considered to be the lingua franca of the planet and is associated with "international" and "globalization." In current Japanese education, the subject of Japanese language is called 「国語」 (kokugo, meaning "national language," rather than meaning "Japanese". If, for example, the United States did this, instead of the subject of English it would be called the subject of National Language). In contrast to this, the other language subject in Japan's curriculum is called 「外国語」(gaikokugo, meaning "other/outer country language/s") but in the majority of schools, the only language offered for gaikokugo class is English. This further entrenches English as the international language in Japanese people's minds. When they see a Caucasian in Japan, they are overwhelmingly more likely to ask, "Do you speak English?" in English to the person than they are to ask, "Do you speak English?" or "Is Japanese alright?" in Japanese to the person. Many Japanese recognize that their English language ability is weak, but look forward to, and some are already working toward cultivating, a future in which they envision more Japanese being able to communicate in English. This is why sci-fi series such as Neon Genesis Evangelion select to include English, which is considered the way of the future: the plot involves the leaders and militaries of the entire Earth trying to work together, so settling on an in-universe lingua franca is realistic. Some anime do select Japanese as the in-universe lingua franca, but English is a common choice.

Settings and Props

Modern Japan has brands and store names that are always written in English or romaji, so when parodies of these restaurants, convenience stores, food packages, soda cans, etc. show up in anime, they are illustrated to match the logo of the famous brand (usually, the name is slightly skewed in order to avoid licensing fees). This is the reason that the word "beer" can be illustrated in English: the beverage is often written as such on the beer glassware and interior decorations in Japanese pubs, so the letters form an easily-recognizable shape to Japanese people without them having to feel like they are reading English while leisurely watching an anime.

(An Aside)

While English and Engrish do appear in many series, sometimes a non-Japanese reader/viewer assumes that English is being used in a case when, in fact, it is not. Sometimes it is romaji, sometimes it is a non-real language (such as how names in HUNTER x HUNTER are written in Latin letters but do not adhere to a consistent real language: Gon Freecs, Curarpikt, Leorio, Quwrof Wrlccywrlir, Wbererguin, etc.), and sometimes other languages that employ the Latin alphabet (such as Puella Magi Madoka Magica) are included in anime for reasons that may, or may not at all, be related to the Japanese utilizations of English.

Answer 5

Thank you guys for the explanation, it really helped. But I think there was something left out. I think the other reason there a English courses in Japanese high schools is because we're living in an increasingly English speaking world. A good percentage of Japan's business is with America. Schools are teaching English more simply because it might be needed one day. You can't have a business transaction if you don't understand what the other person is saying. It's very true that America and other English speaking countries are having a lot of influence over Japan, and the proof is seen within the country itself, via advertisements, school, language, art technology and overall daily life. I've been to Tokyo before and was lucky enough to catch a business man talking on his phone in English, and I stopped on the street to take a look around me and marvel at the simple fact that I could actually understand some of the things I saw.