Tuesday, December 2, 2008

New Train Manners Poster

Here's an update from an earlier post on Japanese manners...


Image borrowed from Japan Today, 12/2/08. Caption reads: Just in time for the party season—Tokyo Metro’s manner poster for December.

How effective do you think such visual posters are? How do you feel about the use of Japanese and English text? Who is the intended audience for this poster?

4 comments:

  1. Kind of funny how the thing that's being forbidden is in small font at the bottom. Also, "just in time for the party season"? It's decidedly late for the Yamanote Halloween train, but I can't help thinking whether that facilitated the appearance of these posters somehow.

    Anyway, how's Mugi-chan doing?

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  2. It's been several years since I witnessed the foreigners' Halloween party on the Osaka JR loop line (they still do it I assume) but the real party season is about to start with bonenkai, Christmas parties and shinenkai. I used to enjoy this time of year but now find all the parties to be too much work. Besides, I need to stay home with Mugi-chan...

    Mugi-chan literally climbs the walls and curtains and races around the house at incredible speed for such a tiny thing. She is always in the same room I am, and she makes sure I know it. I have been getting requests for more pictures, so at some point I'll provide a link for that. Stay tuned. And wish me luck. The only things more scratched up than my house are my arms and legs...

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  3. I believe JR shut down the party on the loop line this year. Or at least made a statement to that effect.

    Are there no cat nail clippers in Japan? Though clipping the nails does nothing to prevent a determined attack on furniture, it should be effective enough against casual swipes at the human slave(s).

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  4. I've not seen the yellow 家でやろう posters, but I have been fascinated by Japan Tobacco Manners posters on trains in Kanto. Like those pictured here, they feature English text nearly as large as the Japanese, and some of it is quite poetic. One reads (IIRC) "I hold my breath when smoke comes near." Like you, I can't quite decide who the imagined audience is.

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