Choose Carefully

series of three label designs

Similar to choosing a drink from a vending machine, when you speak in Japanese you must choose your formality level. This decision is dependent on many different factors and will influence your relationship going forward. This piece reimagines my favorite Japanese vending machine drinks as three different speech styles:　ため口 (tameguchi – casual impolite speech), 丁寧語 (teineigo – polite speech), and 敬語 (keigo - formal speech) which are used most often in daily life.