Curzon and I stumbled across this sign in a tiny village while hitchhiking across the Shimokita Peninsula in Aomori last summer. Roughly translated it says:
GREETING CAMPAIGN
- Good morning!
- Good day!
- Good evening!
- Good job!
Kids and adults! Let’s work on greeting each other!
Kawauchi Community Center
Naturally, the few elderly people we saw in this village gave us puzzled stares as we passed through, leading me to believe that this sign was just there for decoration, kind of like a speed limit.
ごくろうさまじゃない？ I guess it wouldn’t fit without changing the font size…
Gokurosan is more um, rural I guess. I was told long ago that Gokuro-san and adding san instaed of sama was a Kansai thing.. Maybe some Osaka native moved to Hokkaido to make his fortune, passed the civil service test, and finally foudn his niche as a sloganeer specializing in giving things a friendly down-home twang.
They thought you and Curzon were no-good Russians,Joe.
I don’t know what made them think that! Certainly it couldn’t have been the open bottles of 190-proof vodka…
If they want to sound extra-Kansai they could say Gokuro-han.