Ok, this is old news. And for some reason I missed it. I don’t know why, I have no excuses. All I can say is that I hadn’t personally seen any of these myself. I knew they existed in Taiwan, but never had an inkling that they could be found in Japan.
What, Chidade? What can be found?
Pedestrian traffic lights that can count down, telling you how much time there is left before the lights change. Part of me wants to scream “WHAT’S THE POINT?” and the rest of me says: “This is Japan. People like to sleep as a hobby here. Time is important”.
Last year, trials began in Nagoya. No word at what stage they are at now. These traffic lights are going to be like uber traffic lights though. Why? Because they’ll probably also play Toryanse. Ha! Beat that, Taiwan!
Ok, maybe I better not speak too soon. After all, Taiwan’s green man is animated:
One thing that will almost guarantee a double-take from first-time foreigners in Japan is that some of the pedestrian crossings play music when the light is green. The most common tune that they play is “Toryanse” which is a children’s song. The lyrics (translated) go as follows:
Let me pass, let me pass
What is this narrow pathway here?
It’s the narrow pathway of the Tenjin shrine
Please allow me to pass through
Those without good reason shall not pass
To celebrate this child’s 7th birthday
I’ve come to dedicate my offering
Going in may be fine but returning would be scary
It’s scary but
Let me pass, let me pass
Let me pass, it’s green and safe to go, hehe.
I’ve tracked down a video of one of the pedestrians crossings near Kyoto Station in action. For some reason, the pitch of the song is higher in crossings in Tokyo than in Kyoto. Go figure.
The website How To Bow has been linked to by 3yen a few times before but it tends to focus on business etiquette only. Now, there is a unique way to learn and practice etiquette for Japan but with one catch: it’s in Japanese.
The four dots represent empty seats in a taxi. If four company employees were to ride in this taxi, which seat would the most senior employee take?
Answer: Behind the driver.
That’s a Nintendo DS screen shot you’re looking at. It seems that Nintendo has come out with an etiquette training game to go with all those Brain Training games. It covers the same business etiwuette that you’d find on How to Bow but it also has general “common sense” questions – which may not be so common sense to gaijin. A much more fun way of remembering your Japanese etiquette rules. A version in English is unlikely. But then again, you can practice your Japanese as well as your etiquette. It’s win-win!
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