Geisha? Mikado? What is a popular shop name?

My favorite site nifty PortalZ's special today is "let's check the meanings of shop name. Yeah, I must tell you there has named in foreign words. Abby Slug? Pupa? My favorite bookstore is named "Village Vanguard". Near my house there is a shopping mall named "OPA", Is it Portguese? At least it's not the Office of Price Administration. My French friend laughed upon hearing that a very popular fashion brand has the doubious title "comme ca du mode". (they have kubrick!!, cute!)It is not correct French, and in translation, it means "like a fashion". By the way NiftyPZ said that English names are the most popular in their research. The next most popular are the French names, then Spanish and Italian.

What name do Japanese shops and restaurants in foreign countries have?  I searched using some simple keywords plus "restaurant" on Google just now. The result were "Mikado restaurant" 2560, "Sakura restaurant" 931, "Shogun restaurant" 679, "Fuji restaurant" 601, "Geisha restaurant" 328.
Hmm I thought Sakura would be the most popular, but Mikado is more exotic sounding? To be honest with you, I think many Japanese have never even met a real Geisha. We know that Geisha is a popular keyword overseas, yet in our daily life, we hardly every encounter a geisha. Why? Perhaps it's because we imagine that it is a kind of old person's expensive entertainment or a tour course in Kyoto. However I can understand how people from other country might find geisha interesting, because it is catchy and easy to identiry. But I cannot understand this, why is this chocolete bar named "Geisha"? (weird display) This is funny :-)  I laughed when I saw this. This Yogurt is named ONAKA =stomach. And this cafe is Sushi Coffee, Iguess smells like fish?. This is Video Sushi, what a combination...

Ah! Right after I memtioned that I hardly ever see a Geisha, this new TV ad is aired. Yes, they will need a lot of cleansing cream. *

Comments

[Mari]

Hi Ramil
Oishii, delicious. But we have a magazine named delicious!
So it sounds okay.

Hi Zara
Revolutionary Sushi..... Hmm they have a new type sushi or just
wanted to tell like that because of shinsengumi?

Hi Alex
Katsudon with butter sauce?
When we make something, first of all, we would check original recipe and would check materials we could get or not, and also would make sure appearence,
Why they do not do that?? I do not like those odd work.

Hi Clair
White Flower will be Shirahana. It sounds nice name. Iguchi gradurate the college which I went. He is handsome!

Hi Mami
Izimi? Ah I dont't know what it is, but It sounds so mean for us. ne!
"it cleans inside of your intestines"? It sounds like vacume. Who want to try?

[ramil]

One of my favorite junk foods is named "oishi"
http://www.oishi.com.ph/catalog.asp?prod=opc
I'm sure thats strange for most japanese.

But then, the first time I came here, almost choked when I saw "Pokari Sweat".

[Zara]

Oops, comment posted twice. The first one posted before I was finished!

[Zara]

I live in New Zealand, and recently I went on a trip to another city here, and I had to laugh when I saw the restaurant called:

   SHINSENGUMI
Revolutionary Sushi

[Zara]

I live in New Zealand, and recently I went on a trip to another city here, and I had to laugh when I saw the restaurant called:

SHINSENGUMI

[Alex]

Most of the Japanese restaurants in hometown have generic names. I could live with that. But their food, for the most part, is terrible. At one Japanese restaurant I ate at (called Sakura) I asked how they served their katsudon. The menu said it was a piece of fried pork on a bowl of rice, so I was suspicious. The waitress said the same thing that the menu did. So I asked if there was anything else, like a sauce. She said it had a butter sauce on top.

Butter sauce?

A friend reported ordering miso ramen at another restaurant. It was ramen noodles... in regular miso soup.

[Claire （クレア）]

I always chuckle when I see the shopping mall OPA because I think of the times when I go to a Greek restaurant and see the waiters serve the dish saganaki, which is a kind of cheese sprinkled with brandy. The brandy is then lit to melt the cheese. The waiter brings the blazing plate to your table, and douses the flame with a squeeze of lemon, heartily exclaiming "Opaa!". So, I don't think of fashion goods when I think of "OPA", but I guess flaming cheese is not too common in Japan!

The sushi restaurant nearest to me has a very dull name: Sushi House. The one the school Japanese culture club goes to is called Kyoto Sushi. We used to go to Nagano, but found it easier to get space at Kyoto. There is a kaitenzushi place, and it also has a boring name: Sushi Station.

The sushi restaurants in Chicago have more interesting names: Sushi Wabi, Kaze, Mirai, to name a few. There are also ones that are more traditional like Shiroi Hana (although they forgot the い on the sign, so the kanji part of the sign says only 白花) and others like that near Wrigley Field, where the Cubs play baseball (カッブスが日本人の野球選手じゃいません! 高津臣吾と井口忠仁はホワイトソックスの野球選手がいます。)

[Mami]

Wow. I was surprised that the word "Mikado" would sound exotic enough to be used as a shop / restaurant name.

When my husband and I went to Vancouver last year, we were surprised that there were a lot more sushi restaurants in town than a few years back. There were "Tama sushi" and "Tsunami sushi," and we thought those were "okay" names. Then there were "Izimi sushi" (please someone tell me what "izimi" is?) and "Opera sushi." Hmm.

But, I guess it's okay -- I mean, it is I think better than "Konnyaku batake," that clearly states on the package in English that "it cleans inside of your intestines" (or some such). The package grossed us out a few years ago --- wonder if that "informative" statement is still on the package!?