Given that much less than 1 percent of Japan's population are native English speakers, you can understand my surprise when the word "POLICE" suddenly appeared in bold reflective lettering on the nation's patrol cars last year.
Put there, according to the Metropolitan Police Department, to help foreign visitors and residents recognize patrol cars (while making them look a whole lot cooler, too), these English letters sparked a minor debate in motoring circles. Could this mean that Japan's parochial number-plate system might also get a visit from the English alphabet?
Inquiries to the transport ministry were met with blank looks, the customary sucking-air-through-the-teeth routine and the odd sa — which generally means something like "well . . ."