看板

Japanese public information signs are nothing if not graphic.

Usually manga-style in conception, the plethora of signs in Japanese public spaces warn people to urinate properly, not allow their dogs to foul the sidewalks and to take their litter home with them.


Public information signs really got going in the Meiji Period (1868-1912) as the new government sought to inculcate "modern" norms of behaviour on a seemingly unwilling and uncaring populace.


The overwhelming incidence of public announcements and signs telling people not to do certain things in Japan points to the intrinsic nature of rebellion among a nation long-seen as blindly law-abiding by the rest of the world.



© JapanVisitor.com

Yahoo Japan Auction Service
Japanese Friends
Tokyo Apartments Search
Japan Job Search
Rough Guide To Japan
Tags
Japanese signs

京都銭湯看板

Along the tiny Kamiya River in western Kyoto, just off Nishi Oji Dori, is a great old sento.

It has a standard entrance, with the banto-san - the person whom you pay - seated inside on a chair that overlooks both male and female dressing rooms.

(There is nothing odd about this. The banto is usually the owner, and he or she will wander in and out of the bath while you and many others are completely nude. A wall, of course, separates the female and male dressing rooms and baths.)

The interior was fairly basic: a few baths, a high ceiling with a skylight, and a sauna.

On the outside of the sento though was a wood sign that bore the standard symbol for public bath: 湯 (yu). It had been carved and had worn well with age.

Today public baths have an electric sign in the shape of the same kanji. This sento is the only one we have ever seen with an old wood sign.

© JapanVisitor.com

Yahoo Japan Auction Service
Japanese Friends
Tokyo Apartments Search
Japan Job Search
Rough Guide To Japan
Tags
Japan
Tokyo
Kyoto
Sento Sign
Japanese

仁丹広告京都

In parts of Kyoto in which there remain a large number of older private homes, you will often find odd address markings/advertisements.

The rectangular metal signs have literally been tacked onto the front of many homes. The top tells the passerby the street address - helpful in often signless Japan - and the bottom has the logo of the Jintan Corporation and its kanji rendering （仁丹）.

My daughter is a big fan of the signs - and the logo with its mustachioed 18th century (?) military man - and we count them on the bike ride into central Kyoto.

Jintan was founded in 1893 and still exists. Its headquarters are in nearby Osaka. The company makes, among other items, breath mints.

The signs pictured here were found in an area rich with Jintan signs: the old neighborhoods bordered by Horikawa on the east, Marutamachi on the south, Senbon on the west, and Imadegawa on the north.

The sign above right is on a stunning building that is still an operating factory. The characters themselves are a giveaway of when the sign was made and affixed to the building: they use old, more complicated kanji.

The sign below left is across the street and on a private residence. The only difference is the address - and the degree of wear and tear. In the background is the factory where the other sign can be found.

© JapanVisitor.com

Yahoo Japan Auction Service

Book a Japanese Hotel with Bookings

Japanese Friends

Japan Job Search

Tokyo Vice

Tags

Japan Tokyo Kyoto Jintan Japanese

古い看板鞍馬京都

On a recent hike from Kibune to Kurama, in northern Kyoto, we strolled the last stretch from the trail head in Kurama to a local hot spring.

The homes that line the road, new and old, are all tastefully done in a "Kyoto" traditional style. Unlike much of the rest of the city, there were no cheap, lego-like homes to be found.

On the right, beyond the houses on the east side of the road, were farmers' fields and a stream.

For local children, the stream must be inviting. And for litterbugs, it also appears to be a draw.

On the right side of the ride, one of the wooden homes had a classic sign with a plea to not litter in the stream:

"Don't litter! The fish and living things in the river are crying!

Kurama Children's Association"


© JapanVisitor.com

Yahoo Japan Auction Service

Book a Japanese Hotel with Bookings

Japanese Friends

Rough Guide To Japan

Tags

Japan Tokyo Kyoto Kibune and Kurama Japanese

大阪ファションとソープの看板

Though prostitution in Japan was formally made illegal in the 1950s, those in the pink industry are very adept at finding loopholes in the statutes.

Government officials rewrite the laws; the brothels alter their modus operandi. A fascinating cat and mouse game.

The industry is often said to comprise 5% of the Japanese GNP - and it is very openly conducted.

You will thus find, in the former red light areas, establishments offering nearly the same services as they did in the "good old days" when it was legal.

One such area can be found in the back streets a short walk from Osaka's Kyobashi Station.

The area is sordid, and a bit depressing. It is the preserve of older men, the jobless, and misfits. Cheap noodle joints, pachinko parlors, and an assortment of raffish shops line the arcades. Just off them, though, you enter a different universe.

Kyobashi has none of the verve of Namba or Umeda or Shinsaibashi - where many more brothels are located - but it still is packed in places with multi-story buildings in which every floor has at least one business offering a range of services for men.

The two places pictured here were both in the same ten-story building.

The photo at top is of "Kiss," which is on the 4th floor. And Visa is accepted! The other establishment is on the second floor, and we are not sure about credit cards.

© JapanVisitor.com

Yahoo Japan Auction Service

Book a Japanese Hotel with Bookings

Japanese Friends

Rough Guide To Japan

Tags

Japan Tokyo Kyoto Osaka brothel sign Japanese