A unique English-Japanese dictionary with the names of U.S. and European brands and products has been published by an English linguistics researcher to enhance readers' understanding of foreign novels, movies and news reports.
The English-Japanese Dictionary of Brand Names (Eiwa Burandomei Jiten), compiled by Masayoshi Yamada, contains detailed explanations of around 6,500 famous brands, including their history and origin.
Among them are relatively new products such as Roomba, a vacuum cleaner robot, and RadEye, a handy radiation indicator much in demand since the Fukushima nuclear crisis started, as well as brands recognized worldwide, such as McDonald's, Marlboro and Polo Ralph Lauren.