English vs. Japanese Text On Screen

[Birkdaddy]

Hi everyone! This is my first post on Kazenshuu, so please bear with me if I seem a little lost or this isn't in the right spot. I have a question regarding the original Japanese language version of the shows vs the English dubs, and was directed to these forums because of the great contributor base and their collective knowledge of the shows. Some quick background information as well... I have seen all of DB->DBZ->GT in English dub form, but seemingly cannot find the Japanese originals online here in the USA. I also cannot read Japanese, but would like to learn it in the future.

In a nutshell, my question is this: Is all of the on screen text in the Japanese version written in traditional characters, or is there English text as well? As a basic example, in the English dubs it says "KAME HOUSE" on the outside of Master Roshi's building. In the original version was this written in Japanese characters? There are many signs, shirts, hats, posters, and more that have English words, Japanese words written in English(Krillin's hat in GT has his name in English but it is the Japanese spelling), or occasionally both together(I think the coffee shop sign in Penguin Village from DB is like this). Were those objects edited for the US viewers, or did they have the English texts in the original? I haven't been able to find an answer to this through all of my Googling, and I couldn't find a thread about it on these forums either.

Sorry if this seems a bit convoluted, but I was unsure of how to phrase it in a simpler way that fully explains my question. Some input from a bilingual viewer or possibly even a Japan native would be especially great!

[Gaffer Tape]

Hello. Welcome!

There actually is quite a bit of English in Dragon Ball. Assuming you're watching an "uncut" version of the English dub, nothing should have been digitally painted over, and you can trust your eyes that what you're seeing is what was originally there. For example, Kame House does indeed say "Kame House" in English (well... that's actually one word in Japanese and one word in English... but written with the alphabet) in the original version of the series.

[VegettoEX]

(I realize Gaffer Tape got a response in first, but I was already typing so much and figured I may as well just keep it...)

The original Japanese version of the franchise has been widely available since FUNimation began their own in-house distribution of the series on DVD in 2000. With the exception of the widescreen cropping in some home releases of DBZ TV, every bit of footage is unaltered and the included English subtitles are professionally and accurately translated by Steven J. Simmons, long-time fan of the franchise (along with some extra help on the first TV series from Clyde Mandelin).

There are examples of text being painted over in TV broadcasts -- things like "SATAN CITY" (being changed to... uhh... "Herculopolis" or whatever...?) and in Kai the kanji 天下一武道会 (Tenka'ichi Budōkai) being written over as something like "World Martial Arts Tournament" -- but that's just that: TV broadcasts. The DVDs are unchanged.

So there's that.

Anyway, yeah, a lot of text in the series is indeed originally written in "English" (or at least in our alphabet). Things like "KAME HOUSE" are an example of this, along with "WELCOME" (err, "WELL COME") at Enma's in the afterlife. Some of it is "English is cool!" in Japanese culture, and some of it is Toriyama just making so many puns and plays on words between so many languages.

[jjgp1112]

Chris Jericho and Mick Foley have mentioned in their books that the Japanese are infatuated with the English language, and are particularly obsessed with English logos. Mick Foley mentioned how he sold a shirt with 'King of the Deathmatch" written on it in Japanese, and nobody bought it. He did the same shirt in English and it flew off the shelves.

[Ringworm128]

Not to mention a good chuck of mainstream Japanese music has random English thrown in.

[kei17]

It's similar to Westerners getting random kanji tattoos.

[dario03]

It's similar to Westerners getting random kanji tattoos.

What? Nobody gets kanji tattoos around here... They get hanzi tattoos

[UpFromTheSkies]

It's interesting how we borrow from each others cultures and take elements that had become boring and mundane and sort of revitalize them.

[Birkdaddy]

Thanks for such prompt and helpful responses everybody, this all more than satisfies my desire for an answer. I kind of figured it was the cross-culture combination of both from the start, but I just wasn't sure how prevalent English actually was in Japan. Much of the world is years ahead of the USA in terms of making sure students learn multiple major languages, glad to see it paying off so maybe the US will get its butt in gear... The comment about Westerners getting tattoos of characters in other languages makes a lot of sense in reverse as well, I had just never really thought of it that way.