Signs

Most signs worthy of a blogpost are pretty funny, so I should apologize that this first sign’s not actually very funny, but the back story is (a little bit).  You see, we really wanted to go to the “Tokyo Metropolitan Children’s Hall” because, well, it’s fun . . . for the kids, that is.  We knew it was near Shibuya station, but we coming from our hotel, the subway was extremely inconvenient.  We wore off the hotel receptionist’s ear asking questions, how to get there, how much is a taxi, etc.  Finally, we just left, flagged down a taxi and showed him our Japanese map and pointed to where we wanted to go (someone had circled the building for us).  Up and down hills, through a large cemetary, stop and go traffic all the way.  The whole time I’m watching the meter go up by 90 yen increments just about every block.  Yikes!! (did I ever mention that taxi meters are near the top of my list of things that cause anxiety?)  Finally, we made it, and it only cost 1100 yen, about 15 bucks, which I didn’t think was too bad for door to door service  . . . until we discovered this door wasn’t open for business.  So sad.  But not worries.  We bounced back because just up the street we found the most famous dog statue in Tokyo!!

Okay, I digress.  This post is supposed to be about signs.  Speaking of dogs (like that segue?), here’s a helpful sign about walking your dog in Yoyogi park. 

Zoom in to item #1:

I walked away from that sign utterly bewildered, and I’d still be trying to figure out its meaning if I hadn’t soon encountered another of the same sign further down the walk, where someone graciously RE-translated it: “For the consideration of others, please ensure that your dog is on a leash while inside the park grounds.”  I can sleep better now.

There’s a sign in this picture, but that’s not really why I took this photo.  We just get a kick out the busstops in Japan.  Even in the heart of one of the biggest cities in the world, the busstops are BYOC (that’s bring your own chair).

Later that day we went to Ueno Zoo where we came across this odd-looking board.  This qualifies as a ‘sign’, right?  I guess it doesn’t really matter;  it’s my blog after all. :)

Okay, on to my three favorite signs (in order), all of which were at the zoo.

3rd place:  Translation: “Don’t feed the baboons because they’ll get a migraine and indigestion.”  I feel bad for finding this sign humorous despite the seriousness of the messsage.  I guess the innocence of the green-haired boy just seems to speak to me.

2nd place:  Translation: “Danger! Hippos are known to swish their tails while doing their business.  Run away!!  Run away!!”

1st place:  This is actually two pages from a book attached to a tree.  At this zoo, the sloths have access to nearby trees outside their enclosure where they hang around while visitors can stroll beneath them.  To put us English speakers at ease, this book was created:

And there you have it.  If you’d like to see more signs like these, just visit . . . us.  Really.  Hop on a plane and come to Japan.  You can stay at our place.

See you soon,

Rob