Last year around Christmas time, the pictures of an Osaka department store advertising a ‘fuckin’ sale’ went across the globe.

Fuckin’ sale in Osaka

I recently came across another funny sales advertisement in Tokyo, although this one had a more positive message: the hopeful sale (or rather, bargain).

Hopeful bargain in Tokyo

The Japanese have a habit of combining English adjectives and nouns in ways that can seem funny to foreigners. But it can be a little tricky to explain clearly why the concept of a ‘hopeful bargain’ would seem funny to us. Anyone care to have a go at it?