Usa Kanji Flag Keychain

These are the kanji (Japanese symbols) for America/USA. It is pronounced Beikoku in Japanese. On top of this kanji is the red, white and blue of the American flag. This design is both a Japanese symbol and an American symbol. The kanji on the left is the Japanese symbol for rice and the kanji on the right is the symbol for country. So these Japanese symbols literally translate as rice country. There are differing viewpoints as to why these kanji were chosen for the United States as the U.S. was not exactly known for rice production at the time. Some argue that it was for phonetic reasons while others argue it was because rice is a Japanese symbol for plenty. To be honest though, its a bit of a non-issue now as it is usually called America and written in katakana which is a phonetic syllabary. Whatever though, these are pretty cool kanji t-shirts and the meaning is very clear so you don't have to worry about whether you are wearing some strange message on your tee.