Answer to the "Welcome Mat" question (#25)

On Saturday I posted this photo, asking you where you thought we might have found this welcome mat. The comments I got were so good, I just have to put them here for everyone's enjoyment:

KarenKTeachCamb said...

I'm thinking a radiography (x-ray) clinic.

19 January, 2013 21:36 

Deb said...

You've obviously decided to leave OMF and join a band of pirates on the high seas. I imagine this mat was in their lobby and you snapped the picture on your way to sign up to their crew and receive your complimentary parrot.

20 January, 2013 11:05 

Ken Rolph said...

This is part of an international chain of exercise salons. They usually teach pilates, but in Japan they attracted a clientele of skeletally thin runway models. So they changed their name to Pirates. They teach young budding models to batten their hatches and walk the plank. If the instructor calls out "a vast behind" the models know they need to more firmly buckle their swash.

21 January, 2013 07:25 

The interesting thing about Ken's comment is that "pirates" and "pilates" sound exactly the same if you pronounce them in the Japanese way, Japanese not possessing an 'r' that is different to an 'l'.

No one came close to the correct answer, however. This mat was at the entrance to an expressway rest/food stop. We stopped there for lunch on our way home on Christmas Eve. On our way out I was astounded to see how they'd "welcomed" us to their establishment.

By the way, we weren't poisoned, we had a lovely Japanese "fast food" meal.