I've had many a tourist tell me I could get rich by proofreading the poor English on signs, menus and pamphlets in Japan. Their reference to such wealth does not mean to highlight the actual compensation involved for professional translation but rather the immense volume of work available for such a person.

These well-meaning travelers who have been assaulted by so much translation gone awry are presuming Japan is aware of the problem. And that they care.

In fact, sometimes Japan seems to prefer to promote bad English. After being commissioned to write an article in English on the Seto Inland Sea for a government-subsidized tourism website, the Japanese editor added various erroneous Japanese-English subheadings such as "Let's rent bicycle!" The very end of the article lists "Genaral Information." This alternative spelling runs a close second to that by another public sector entity near my house where a sign claims they offer "infarmation."