Why are titles in Touhou often formatted like "Japanese title ~ English subtitle"?


I've noticed that a lot of Touhou games, music, and print works seem to have
titles that consist of a Japanese part and an English part, where the two are
separated with a tilde.

For example, most of the [main game
titles](https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Windows#Games_for_this_Platform) follow
this pattern, although some of the .5 games seem to use "Japanese title ~
Japanese subtitle" instead?

[code]

    - TH01: 東方靈異伝　～ The Highly Responsive to Prayers
    - TH02: 東方封魔録　～ the Story of Eastern Wonderland
    - TH03: 東方夢時空　～ Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream
    - TH04: 東方幻想郷　～ Lotus Land Story
    - TH05: 東方怪綺談　～ Mystic Square
    - TH06: 東方紅魔郷　～ the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
    - TH07: 東方妖々夢　～ Perfect Cherry Blossom
    - TH07.5: 東方萃夢想　～ Immaterial and Missing Power
    - TH08: 東方永夜抄　～ Imperishable Night
    - TH09: 東方花映塚　～ Phantasmagoria of Flower View
    - TH09.5: 東方文花帖　～ Shoot the Bullet
    - TH10: 東方風神録　～ Mountain of Faith
    - TH10.5: 東方緋想天 ～ Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
    - TH11: 東方地霊殿　～ Subterranean Animism
    - TH12: 東方星蓮船　～ Undefined Fantastic Object
    - TH12.3: 東方非想天則　～ 超弩級ギニョルの謎を追え
    - TH12.5: ダブルスポイラー　～ 東方文花帖
    - TH12.8: 妖精大戦争　～ 東方三月精
    - TH13: 東方神霊廟　～ Ten Desires
    - TH13.5: 東方心綺楼　～ Hopeless Masquerade
    - TH14: 東方輝針城　～ Double Dealing Character
    - TH14.3: 弾幕アマノジャク　～ Impossible Spell Card
    - TH14.5: 東方深秘録　～ Urban Legend in Limbo
    - TH15: 東方紺珠伝　～ Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom
    - TH15.5: 東方憑依華　～ Antinomy of Common Flowers
    - TH16: 東方天空璋　～ Hidden Star in Four Seasons
    - TH16.5: 秘封ナイトメアダイアリー　〜 Violet Detector
    - TH17: 東方鬼形獣　～ Wily Beast and Weakest Creature
    - TH17.5: 東方剛欲異聞　～ 水没した沈愁地獄
    
[/code]

Lots of [songs from the main game
series](https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Category:Music_by_Game) have tildes in
them as well. There are a number of songs that don't follow the pattern
though, so the following is only a subset of all the main game themes:

[code]

    - TH06 (EoSD):
        - 上海紅茶館　～ Chinese Tea
        - ラクトガール　～ 少女密室
        - 月時計　～ ルナ・ダイアル
        - 紅楼　～ Eastern Dream...
    - TH07 (PCB):
        - 妖々夢　～ Snow or Cherry Petal
        - 無何有の郷　～ Deep Mountain
        - 人形裁判　～ 人の形弄びし少女
        - 幽霊楽団　～ Phantom Ensemble
        - 東方妖々夢　～ Ancient Temple
        - 広有射怪鳥事　～ Till When?
        - 幽雅に咲かせ、墨染の桜　～ Border of Life
        - 少女幻葬　～ Necro-Fantasy
        - 妖々跋扈　～ Who done it!
        - さくらさくら　～ Japanize Dream...
    - TH08 (IN):
        - 永夜抄　～ Eastern Night
        - 幻視の夜　～ Ghostly Eyes
        - 蠢々秋月　～ Mooned Insect
        - 夜雀の歌声　～ Night Bird
        - 懐かしき東方の血　～ Old World
        - 永夜の報い　～ Imperishable Night
        - 少女綺想曲　～ Dream Battle
        - シンデレラケージ　～ Kagome-Kagome
        - 狂気の瞳　～ Invisible Full Moon
        - 千年幻想郷　～ History of the Moon
        - 竹取飛翔　～ Lunatic Princess
        - エクステンドアッシュ　～ 蓬莱人
        - Eternal Dream　～ 幽玄の槭樹
    - TH09 (PoFV):
        - 花映塚　～ Higan Retour
        - 春色小径　～ Colorful Path
        - 東方妖々夢　～ Ancient Temple
        - 狂気の瞳　～ Invisible Full Moon
        - 幽霊楽団　～ Phantom Ensemble
        - もう歌しか聞こえない　～ Flower Mix
        - ポイズンボディ　～ Forsaken Doll
        - 今昔幻想郷　～ Flower Land
        - 彼岸帰航　～ Riverside View
        - 六十年目の東方裁判　～ Fate of Sixty Years
        - 魂の花　～ Another Dream...
    - TH10 (MoF):
        - 人恋し神様　～ Romantic Fall
        - 厄神様の通り道　～ Dark Road
        - 芥川龍之介の河童　～ Candid Friend
        - フォールオブフォール　～ 秋めく滝
        - 妖怪の山　～ Mysterious Mountain
        - 御柱の墓場　～ Grave of Being
        - 神さびた古戦場　～ Suwa Foughten Field
        - 神は恵みの雨を降らす　～ Sylphid Dream
    - TH11 (SA):
        - 封じられた妖怪　～ Lost Place
        - 少女さとり　～ 3rd eye
        - 死体旅行　～ Be of good cheer!
        - 霊知の太陽信仰　～ Nuclear Fusion
        - エネルギー黎明　～ Future Dream...
    - TH12 (UFO):
        - 感情の摩天楼　～ Cosmic Mind
        - 空の帰り道　～ Sky Dream
    - TH13 (TD):
        - 聖徳伝説　～ True Administrator
    - TH14 (DDC):
        - 輝く針の小人族　～ Little Princess
        - 始原のビート　～ Pristine Beat
    - TH15 (LoLK):
        - ピュアヒューリーズ　～ 心の在処
    - TH16 (HSiFS):
        - 秘神マターラ　～ Hidden Star in All Seasons.
    
[/code]

Tilde usage for songs seems to have decreased for more recent games?

The titles of most of [ZUN's music
albums](https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Music_CDs#ZUN.27s_Music_Albums) seem to
follow this pattern as well. For example:

[code]

    - 蓬莱人形　～ Dolls in Pseudo Paradise
    - 蓮台野夜行　～ Ghostly Field Club
    - 夢違科学世紀　～ Changeability of Strange Dream
    - 卯酉東海道　～ Retrospective 53 minutes
    - 大空魔術　～ Magical Astronomy
    - 鳥船遺跡　～ Trojan Green Asteroid
    - 伊弉諾物質　～ Neo-traditionalism of Japan
    - 燕石博物誌　～ Dr. Latency's Freak Report
    - 旧約酒場　～ Dateless Bar "Old Adam"
    
[/code]

Additionally, some of the [print
works](https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Official_Literature#Comics) seem to have
a binomial nomenclature thing going on:

[code]

    - 東方儚月抄:
        - 東方儚月抄　～ Silent Sinner in Blue
        - 東方儚月抄　～ Cage in Lunatic Runagate
        - 東方儚月抄　～ 月のイナバと地上の因幡
    - 東方三月精:
        - 東方三月精　～ Eastern and Little Nature Deity
        - 東方三月精　～ Strange and Bright Nature Deity
        - 東方三月精　～ Oriental Sacred Place
        - 東方三月精　～ Visionary Fairies in Shrine
    - 東方茨歌仙　～ Wild and Horned Hermit
    - 東方鈴奈庵　～ Forbidden Scrollery
    
[/code]

Spell card names also sometimes seem to have a binomial nomenclature thing
going on, though with quotation marks instead of tildes. For example,
[Flandre's spell
cards](https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/List_of_Spell_Cards/Touhou_Project_1#Flandre_Scarlet)
in EoSD:

[code]

    - 禁忌:
        - 禁忌「クランベリートラップ」
        - 禁忌「レーヴァテイン」
        - 禁忌「フォーオブアカインド」
        - 禁忌「カゴメカゴメ」
        - 禁忌「恋の迷路」
    - 禁弾:
        - 禁弾「スターボウブレイク」
        - 禁弾「カタディオプトリック」
        - 禁弾「過去を刻む時計」
    - 秘弾「そして誰もいなくなるか？」
    - QED「495年の波紋」
    
[/code]

Is there an explanation or system or backstory behind this tilde naming
convention? Or am I overthinking this and is the explanation just "ZUN did it
because it looks cool"?




First, it should be noted that [the japanese do incorporate English text into
their media
frequently](https://aichiu.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=pages_view_main&active_action=repository_view_main_item_detail&item_id=4197&item_no=1&page_id=13&block_id=17).
However, I am assuming why Touhou seems to make use of it especially is the
matter of consideration here.

However to be more Touhou specific, something that needs to be noted about
Touhou in particular is that the theming of Touhou was, at least at some
point, supposed to be an east meets west kind of thing. The Wikipedia page for
[Team Shanghai Alice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Shanghai_Alice),
which is licensed under [CC-BY-SA
3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) terms, notes:

> The name "Team Shanghai Alice" was chosen to fit the overall theme of the
> Touhou games. "Shanghai", in ZUN's mind, is a multicultural city where the
> East and the West meet.

  
There are many examples of western cultural influence in the series. Marisa is
very much a western style witch, Alice Margatroid is supposed to be the same
Alice from _Alice in Wonderland_ , and one of her theme songs is doll maker of
bucuresti, where bucuresti is an alternative name for Burachest in Romania. He
makes references to the moon landing when the Lunarians are involved:
Imperishable Night has a song entitled Voyage 1969, and Clownpiece's costume
very much resembles an american flag. Japan has no native folklore regarding
vampires as we know them, like Remilia or Kurumi. Recently, in Forbidden
Scrollery there was even a chupecabra.

Something else that needs to be noted is that Touhou means _Eastern_ and
Amusement Makers also made some [Seihou
project](https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Seihou_Project) games, where Seihou
means Western. The Windows era designs of Marisa and Reimu are first shown in
the Seihou games, where the characters made cameo appearances as extra stage
bosses.

In the music rooms for the games, Zun sometimes comments on how certain songs
seem distinctly Japanese to him, and [in Lotus Land Story's music
rooms](https://touhou.fandom.com/wiki/Lotus_Land_Story/Music) he comments
about how he was trying to make the pieces feel western. [In the Music Room
description of Song of the Night Sparrow for Imperishable
night](https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Imperishable_Night/Music), Zun comments
that it was supposed to be a blend of eastern and western styles.

Unfortunately, the closest I can personally find to Zun himself explaining it
at present moment comes to commenting on this is in [Afterword Correspondence
Vol. 1 for Embodiment of the Scarlet
Devil](https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music),
where he acknowledges that his music used to follow the format, but any reason
why is omitted from that observation. However, in consideration of these
facts, I think it is reasonable to assume it was done to give the games a
somewhat western feeling to them by blending eastern and western languages, to
match the original theme.




First, it should be noted that [the japanese do incorporate English text into
their media
frequently](https://aichiu.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=pages_view_main&active_action=repository_view_main_item_detail&item_id=4197&item_no=1&page_id=13&block_id=17).
However, I am assuming why Touhou seems to make use of it especially is the
matter of consideration here.

However to be more Touhou specific, something that needs to be noted about
Touhou in particular is that the theming of Touhou was, at least at some
point, supposed to be an east meets west kind of thing. The Wikipedia page for
[Team Shanghai Alice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Shanghai_Alice),
which is licensed under [CC-BY-SA
3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) terms, notes:

> The name "Team Shanghai Alice" was chosen to fit the overall theme of the
> Touhou games. "Shanghai", in ZUN's mind, is a multicultural city where the
> East and the West meet.

  
There are many examples of western cultural influence in the series. Marisa is
very much a western style witch, Alice Margatroid is supposed to be the same
Alice from _Alice in Wonderland_ , and one of her theme songs is doll maker of
bucuresti, where bucuresti is an alternative name for Burachest in Romania. He
makes references to the moon landing when the Lunarians are involved:
Imperishable Night has a song entitled Voyage 1969, and Clownpiece's costume
very much resembles an american flag. Japan has no native folklore regarding
vampires as we know them, like Remilia or Kurumi. Recently, in Forbidden
Scrollery there was even a chupecabra.

Something else that needs to be noted is that Touhou means _Eastern_ and
Amusement Makers also made some [Seihou
project](https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Seihou_Project) games, where Seihou
means Western. The Windows era designs of Marisa and Reimu are first shown in
the Seihou games, where the characters made cameo appearances as extra stage
bosses.

In the music rooms for the games, Zun sometimes comments on how certain songs
seem distinctly Japanese to him, and [in Lotus Land Story's music
rooms](https://touhou.fandom.com/wiki/Lotus_Land_Story/Music) he comments
about how he was trying to make the pieces feel western. [In the Music Room
description of Song of the Night Sparrow for Imperishable
night](https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Imperishable_Night/Music), Zun comments
that it was supposed to be a blend of eastern and western styles.

Unfortunately, the closest I can personally find to Zun himself explaining it
at present moment comes to commenting on this is in [Afterword Correspondence
Vol. 1 for Embodiment of the Scarlet
Devil](https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil/Music),
where he acknowledges that his music used to follow the format, but any reason
why is omitted from that observation. However, in consideration of these
facts, I think it is reasonable to assume it was done to give the games a
somewhat western feeling to them by blending eastern and western languages, to
match the original theme.

