111. A nice bit of thoughtfulness: a box in front of the VR machine where you can stash your things as you’re playing.pic.twitter.com/fPJOviP7tP
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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
133. (Quite possibly with the parking indicators, at least those that chose to be evil instead of good.)pic.twitter.com/IFueqIOVwa
134. One of my hotels (but only one) offered me a Smoke Guard and that made me worried more than anything else.pic.twitter.com/ofWym4wJx3
135. It wasn’t long after I got enough courage to try Oscillate when another restroom moved me up to face the next level’s final boss: Pulsate.pic.twitter.com/pYSrnuVIk8
136. But the one thing I *really* did not expect to find next to a toilet was… volume controls.pic.twitter.com/Pk3Ug8BoDp
137. Vending machines are truly ubiquitous, at 5½ million total (for 127M people). When I was biking through some rural areas near Hiroshima, I was astonished not just that they were there – but that I saw one every few minutes.pic.twitter.com/75FCTW6L6T
(But contrary to all the lore, outside of some cigarette machines, pretty much all that I saw were machines with liquids: cold and hot drinks. No vending machines with candy or weird stuff, unless they’re hiding somewhere I’m not looking?)pic.twitter.com/NoYJW07tQT
138. Getting the machine to give you back (the rest of) your money is such a fun great interaction on some of the models. First of all, there’s a big yellow lever to pull…pic.twitter.com/aU0hDlp4PP
Then, the machine counts down the money it owes you one coin at a time, which is REALLY satisfying. (Here, I put in 1,000¥ and ordered something worth 130¥.)pic.twitter.com/lfrV3IRVGr
Lastly, your change gets spat out at the very bottom, close to the ground, next to the delivered item. (Although I can’t decide whether that’s good. On one hand, it’s easy to grab with whatever you ordered – but also sometimes I forgot, and I had to reach further down again.)
139. This vending machine had a bottle opener and a little bucket for caps. It also had… mystery items! I saw that in other machines in that town, too. The last photo is what I got, because of course I had to try it out.pic.twitter.com/kgNl45vaRj
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