In this installment of Japan Signs we look at a photo I took in Tokyo a while back when a new Krispy Kreme store was opened in the Yūrakuchō district of Tokyo near Ginza.

When we first walked past, the waiting time was well over two hours but when we came back again it got down to a mere 1 hour 40 minutes. We waited a little while longer and eventually decided to hop into the line and 30 minutes later we enjoyed a box of yummy fresh donuts – drools.

Anyway we better get back to the Japanese – the breakdown of the kanji on the sign is as follows.

只今の待ち時間

Kanji	Hiragana	Meaning
只今	ただいま	Right now
の	の	The “no” particle
待ち	まち	Waiting
時間	じかん	Time

So we end up with something like – “At the moment, the waiting time is 1:40”.

There’ll be much more coming up in the Japan Signs series as I think they give a perfect real-life look at how you can use your Japanese skills or help increase what you already know.

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