Japan: June 10-19, 2018. Signs, so Dramatic, so helpful

I found the signs in Japan to be helpful and quite graphic.  The one that first caught my eye and had me want to photograph the signs was one I never got -- it passed me by too quickly. It was a picture of a child running with a horrified expression on his face.  There was a large red star drawn behind the illustration of the youth with the center right on his lower back.  The message to both children and drivers was clear: Look out For Children/Cars. The sign was similar to the following (but with the red star indicating a possible impact of car/child).

More instructions with people seemed clear in context: 

Definately no bike or car parking (there are restrictions on bike parking; we were instructed to only park our bikes in paid areas or in front of shops in which we were shopping or we could face our bikes being impounded.)

 

Other interesting signs showed what kinds of food was sold: 

Or exactly who the seat was intended for on the train: (It took a while for me to be able to get this picture; often large numbers of people were standing in front of this set of seats.)

Maps were colorful and descriptive in their illustrations:

Can you spot the McDonalds sign?   ...And the advertisement that McDonalds is for Japan. (Translated by Google Translate -- as I moved my phone, the words shifted.  I could gather the general meaning from what words would flash, Harry Potter style, on my phone screen.)

 


Sometimes, it seemed that the Japanese people used Google Translate to complete their translations.  This was at Nagoya Castle.

People did not use their phones in public, other than to play games quietly on the train.  It was rude, our guide said, to have conversations heard by others or to disrupt others with our cell phone use. While these signs explained serious dangers of the distractions caused by cell phone use, these signs seemed to be posted more for visitors in the Shinkashen station.

And of course, there were very graphically clear and helpful instructions in bathrooms where people might not know how to use a "western toilet," and there were other instructions on squatters in places where westerners might be confused about how to use the toilet.

It's always good to have instructions about how to eat Mexican food, however, in the land of very delicate and elegant foods, "Kyoto Mexican" seemed to be oxymoronic.