Token Corporation
token |ˈtÅkÉ™n|
noun: 1 a thing serving as a visible or tangible representation of something abstract : mistletoe was cut from an oak tree as a token of good fortune.
adjective: done for the sake of appearances or as a symbolic gesture : cases like these often bring just token fines from the courts.
This photo was taken a wee while ago with my trusty little mobile phone when I was out cycling near our old apartment in Tsukuba. I have seen signs representing this company around a fair bit and was quite amused by it. It is not your usual 13 year old Japanese school girl wearing a t-shirt saying “world champion urine drinker” which, while I find it ironic, I don’t really find terribly funny. Explaining what it means might be, but I don’t think I want to go there.
The rare thing about this one is that it isn’t strange English. The “token” in Token Corporation actually is made up of two characters - the to that you see in Tokyo or Kyoto means east while ken means construction. So it really would be east construction - east here referring to the plains around Tokyo - the Kanto Plains. So while it looks really strange to me it is a real Japanese word.
Whether Token Corporation is a “token corporation” is another question entirely. Their website, or the English part thereof hasn’t been updated since 2001. Given that they knock up apartments and flats which often raises the ire of local residents is a question that a few people would raise.
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