This study sketches three diverse motive characterisations for English language use on public signage in the Japanese Linguistic landscape, using Japanese university students’ multilingual signage interpretations, that draw on commercialism, cultural essentialism, and globalisation discussions, thus presenting both materialist and idealist worldviews. It is argued that motive analysis, linked with a folk linguistics MO, is a very fit technique for obtaining sound and justifiable analyses of people's societal multilingualism perceptions.