106. Oh, no, WHO WRONGED YOU?pic.twitter.com/cLVjJUPp4j
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112. Presenting for your consideration, the best business name since Condomania earlier in this thread. (Seeing a non-English speaking country adopting English can sometimes be so playful in unexpected ways. I’ll have more examples later.)pic.twitter.com/nOxl1oAw2a
(I have so many more things to share, but as you can imagine, this has been EXHAUSTING. I am now going to Hiroshima – a place that means a lot to me – and I need to be more in my head there.
You can tweet me any time, although I might not respond immediately. I’ll be back here, and in Tokyo, in a few days. Will continue this thread then. In the meantime, this bunch of verboten wanderers will keep you company. さようなら!)pic.twitter.com/puRkoP9WHq
113. I’m not really here, but I was just on an elevator ride so scenic I just couldn’t not share it with you. (Still in Tokyo.)pic.twitter.com/aRje044g6Z
(((I won’t write much about Hiroshima since it was really tough, but three moments: I. It was snowing as I approached the half-destroyed Industrial Promotion Hall dome early in the morning. It seemed like the most peaceful place on earth, and it broke my heart.
II. Inside the museum, I spent an hour looking at old photos of Hiroshima. I tried to decipher signs on shops and just understand better life before the bombing.
At some point, an older woman volunteer came up to me and just started talking, in English, about the history of Hiroshima. Eventually, I asked her about the signs, and found out I was making one cardinal mistake: I was reading them left to right… instead of right to left.
III. Some time before I cried for the second and third time that day, I stumbled upon two boys on a school trip just having fun scrubbing a random video in the exhibit. They were laughing quietly in that we’re-getting-away-with-something way.
At some point they noticed me noticing them, and paused. And at this point, completely unexpectedly, I quietly burst out laughing, too – it turns out I needed that kind of release without knowing it. Fortunately, we didn’t get in trouble.)))
114. My first Shinkansen ride was so beautiful I made a little video out of it that very evening:https://vimeo.com/255206737
115. Also, what made the video even possible to some extent was that all the train rides I’ve had were so quiet! No talking on the phone, no loud shouting or conversations. There are no “quiet cars,” because all the cars are supposed to be quiet.
116. Why are some of these subway train entry gates asymmetric? At first I dismissed it as an accident, but OF COURSE it is not. I figured it out on my own and so can you! Answer soon.pic.twitter.com/pPubUnfEcy
117. …but not before we take a look at the best logo ever made, for a delivery company called Yamato Transport.pic.twitter.com/fX9qpF80Bt
118. …and this cute weather indicator in a little town. (Google Translate tells me the last option says, and I quote, “it will be bad.”)pic.twitter.com/bRRJNwz3hr
119. Not unique to Japan, but uniquely consistent: this arrow means “this thing is behind you.” By definition, it can only be shown facing you; particularly inspired is the last use, before you climb the wrong set of stairs.pic.twitter.com/tVuxER2EYL
120. Likewise, since you’re looking down before entering an escalator, we can give you a little bit of a useful info then.pic.twitter.com/A3WXys1vLi
…and that brings us back to 116. Asymmetric gates tell you this is where the arriving car begins or ends, I assume so that you can make better boarding decisions? This sort of blew my mind.pic.twitter.com/xfcoIpjXPm
121. Handles on the subway and buses are abundant, and they even include transverse handles, which I am not sure I have seen before.pic.twitter.com/t683jRwde8
(At the railway museum in Kyoto, they were so proud of those they showed not just their evolution, but even prototypes!)pic.twitter.com/CK1p07XQuK
122. This train crossing doesn’t just have a nice-sounding signal, but it also shows you which way the train is coming from!pic.twitter.com/IZEOrCVyG8
123. Cute animals – giraffes, monkeys, frogs – as construction barriers. (I listed them all for future search purposes, not because I don’t trust you to name them!)pic.twitter.com/BDQcfKUCWe
124. Another fascinating hybrid purchasing method, in a convenience store. You grab things, and walk up to the cashier as expected – but all the money-related bits you do with the cash register that has more UI for you than it does for the cashier.pic.twitter.com/loZzyZpcMt
125. One thing you learn the hard way as a designer: it’s easier to add than it is to remove. ^_^pic.twitter.com/uoKzYYFjGo
126. I liked that on the train I took, the signs above the doors reflected the direction of travel. (They also alternated between languages, in case you were wondering.)pic.twitter.com/PDqlRxZqop
127. In order to get the degree sign, the designer of this took a regular 7-segment display and… put it in upside down. I loved this. Whoever made it and the Medium underline guy should hang out! They live in the same kind of universe. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven-segment_display …pic.twitter.com/s0BOrAIHeD
128. Speaking of upside down, a cool train schedule book rotating gizmo at the station.pic.twitter.com/3wyZ8bdSHL
129. Not only is the drink label perforated so it’s easier to remove and recycle, but the perforation is stronger at the ends to help you out!pic.twitter.com/t06mFbkXz1
130. This is also a fascinating hybrid opening cap. (And foot road signage photobombing it.)pic.twitter.com/8e3mAJvp0g
132. Can/bottle recycling trash cans that kind of look like cute robots, but they’re scheming against you for sure.pic.twitter.com/7omAHEEu2Z
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