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.)))
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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128. Speaking of upside down, a cool train schedule book rotating gizmo at the station.pic.twitter.com/3wyZ8bdSHL
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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
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130. This is also a fascinating hybrid opening cap. (And foot road signage photobombing it.)pic.twitter.com/8e3mAJvp0g
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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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133. (Quite possibly with the parking indicators, at least those that chose to be evil instead of good.)pic.twitter.com/IFueqIOVwa
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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
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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
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136. But the one thing I *really* did not expect to find next to a toilet was… volume controls.pic.twitter.com/Pk3Ug8BoDp
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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
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(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
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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
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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
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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.)
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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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140. An incomplete list of surprising things I ordered that also tasted surprisingly well: – hot green tea – hot milk tea – hot corn souppic.twitter.com/QlDwB4CDvO
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141. This is something that made me really happy yesterday. I love Stanisław Lem’s books enough that I sometimes have a dream where I go to a bookstore and find a stash of his books that I somehow never knew of.
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(Which is impossible – I have all of his stuff – but you don’t question the logic of a dream in a dream. So I get really excited, and then equally sad when I wake up.)
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When I travel abroad, I often try to find his books. He’s popular enough for it to be possible, but not *hyper* popular, so it’s still a challenge. I failed in a few bookstores here, hopelessly lost. I started doubting if Lem was even read in Japan. Was *any* hard sci-fi?
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But I didn’t give up. And in another bookstore yesterday, I seeked help. I went to a machine, and somehow (no English UI) figured out how to search for books.
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I typed in “Stanislaw” instead of the easily matched “Lem,” and I got some results! They all pointed to this section right next to me that looked like an entire case filled with hard sci-fi.pic.twitter.com/rZwStOBwM4
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Since I cannot easily read a spine, I have to go through them one by one. And I eventually find one of Lem’s books! It’s a paperback of The Futorological Congress with a horrible cover harking back to a failed movie adaptation.pic.twitter.com/P4VtFgFSh3
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I guess it’s good enough? I gather that all the other results in the database were just old and not updated, or maybe in different bookstores…
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But then, just before leaving, I looked up. And there, in the upper right corner, I found an entire section of Lem’s books!!! I never looked for a ladder faster in my life. They were there, with Polish titles alongside Japanese ones! Apparently Lem *is* “big in Japan,” too.pic.twitter.com/KmXJ5m5MSm
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