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In _Ro-Kyu-Bu! SS_ episode 6, Subaru and the team makes a stop at a local shop
while on a class field trip. Aoi is with them as well, and reads the sign out
as "Youjiya":

!["Youjiya?"](https://i.stack.imgur.com/1p7yS.jpg)

In the next cut, she says it aloud again, and says it as "toddler shop":

!["A toddler shop?!"](https://i.stack.imgur.com/GYIJM.jpg)

However, when we go inside the shop, Subaru is buying toothpicks:

!["Dad wanted me to send over some toothpicks to
Hawaii."](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZDVJ8.jpg)

Does the sign indeed say "Toddler Shop"? If so, why were there toothpicks
inside (and nothing seemingly toddler-ish)? If not, what did the sign
_actually_ say?


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japanese-language ro-kyu-bu
What was the shop that Subaru went into?


The sign says ようじや ( _youjiya_ ) but because it's written in hiragana the
meaning is a bit ambiguous. The や suffix in the name of a store would always
be 屋, which just means store, or it can also refer to the head of such a store
(e.g. 魚屋 can mean either a fish store or the dealer selling you the fish). So
this is a store for ようじ ( _youji_ ), but the meaning of that is still
ambiguous because ようじ written in hiragana is a homophone that could have
several meanings.

The meaning that Aoi interpreted is 幼児, which means infants and young
children. So Aoi thought it was a store to buy children, hence the second
screenshot you've given. This is the most common somewhat sensical
interpretation of ようじ when written in hiragana in this context. It could also
mean 用事 (errands) in other contexts, but that doesn't fit here.

But ようじ can also mean toothpick written as 楊子 (or 揚枝 less commonly). Usually
one uses 爪楊枝 ( _tsumayouji_ ) to describe the toothpicks themselves but the 爪
(here _tsuma_ , meaning claw or nail) can be omitted in principle. This is the
meaning here, so the shop is literally a store for toothpicks (and likely some
related merchandise).

I think that many Japanese people would not know how to interpret the sign
ようじや, so Aoi's misunderstanding is understandable. However, I don't think very
many people would think that it was a store for 幼児 (children) either, so Aoi's
leap of reasoning there is somewhat comical.

As a cultural note, there actually is a toothpick specialty shop in Japan.
It's called [Saruya](http://blog.japantwo.com/2012/05/10/4984) and located in
Tokyo (link to a blog post about the store). As far as I know this is the only
store of its kind in Japan, so the shop in Ro-kyu-bu is fictional (being in
Kyoto). In any case, Japanese culture takes toothpicks more seriously than
most other cultures, so the existence of such a store is not entirely
impossible, but it's still quite implausible.


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answer


In addition to Logan's already ample explanation, there's another layer of
complexity to this wordplay.

There is a famous brand of cosmetic items in Kyoto, called [よーじや
_Yojiya_](http://www.yojiya.co.jp/english/), pronounced the same way. They're
especially famous for their facial oil removing paper ([あぶらとり紙
_aburatorigami_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aburatorigami)), a popular
souvenir in Kyoto.

Their name comes from the toothbrush they sold early on in their business,
which was called 楊枝 _yōji_ back then. Nowadays toothbrushes are called 歯ブラシ
_ha-burashi_ (a literal translation of the English word), so people use the
word 楊枝 to mean 爪楊枝 _tsumayōji_ (toothpick).

So when a tourist comes to Kyoto for the first time and sees Yojiya, they
think of it as a specialty store in toothpicks. They would walk into the store
expecting to find out what a high-end toothpick would be like, only to find
out otherwise.

So, the scene in question could be considered as a gag that plays upon this
popular joke.


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