A few times I showed others Google Translate they were really impressed; perhaps the only time *I* appeared cool and advanced during this trip. (Otherwise I mostly feel like the attached surreal vignette I witnessed today.)pic.twitter.com/4fdAc1BgUJ
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This one made me laugh. I almost imagined the exasperation of the people putting it together, trying all sorts of approaches, only eventually to arrive at “very slippery.”pic.twitter.com/LkYQmBLmN5
203. Because otherwise everything’s so gentle and respectful! Instead of “No tampering,” it’s “Is you open this cover, you will be inquired by crew,” for example.pic.twitter.com/Uv8rvmwxpz
It’s actually kind of amazing how many things become humanized here. From cigarettes and lightbulbs…pic.twitter.com/I0NCux9rw3
…through houses and cars on top of BRIDGES. (I wonder what HR has to say about *that* relationship.)pic.twitter.com/cKwvhyCC5W
205. What surprised me quite a bit is that I haven’t noticed any emoji. I sort of have this impression that emoji exist in print and ads in America. Maybe I’m mis-remembering? Because I don’t think I saw any used in that context here in Japan.
206. I have seen this, a lot –
– a symbol for hot springs.
(By the way! I have done many since my first day: open air hot bath under the winter’s sky, and public town hot bath, and I’m now so good at it that I notice other foreigners’ etiquette mistakes. :·) )pic.twitter.com/9ySn0Sq7wr
207. Although it is still impossible for me not to see this as a shrug emoticon face.pic.twitter.com/1WI57cBbdW
Although at some point I came up with my first Japanese typographical joke! Here it is: ¯\_(つ)_/¯ (I’m not saying it’s *good*, but it has to count for something!)
208. This kaomoji rubber mat was pretty cute.
As far as I understand:
Emoji:
Emoticon: :·/
Kaomoji: ಠ_ʖಠpic.twitter.com/bR7LZNhBvM
209. There’s a lot more smoking here. Smoking alcoves, smoking sections at the restaurants and on trains. (I once tried to sit in one as an experiment… I lasted a whole 3 minutes.)pic.twitter.com/Q7FiZtFdAF
210. But people wearing face masks – and a lot of people do, including cops in cars and postal office clerks in their windows – apparently has nothing to do with smoking.
As someone explained to me, it’s a) not wanting to make other people sick, b) not wanting to get sick yourself, c) some sort of worry about pollens from China!?
211. There is a lot of free wi-fi around: on many subway stations, in restaurants, in shopping malls. It’s also always pretty fast. Some wi-fi comes with fun signs.pic.twitter.com/KCNoYnBOdY
There were always (legally-mandated?) interstitials, and some of the UI and security choices were… interesting. Or, to me, incomprehensible.pic.twitter.com/4wtRTWXHr6
(It’s also always fun to see different variants of soft drinks and so on.)pic.twitter.com/UpFHLgxEbB
213. During rain and snow, I saw tons of umbrellas and – despite what the second image might tell you – most of them were just what Blade Runner promised: transparent. (Third image: Me under my transparent umbrella I brought with me to the U.S.)pic.twitter.com/AEWS3sya54
I also noticed a new type of umbrella hook… and a bunch of “don’t forget your umbrella” signs. (But despite them, there were quite a few forgotten umbrellas around. Always in an immaculate shape.)pic.twitter.com/d22U9IwGEj
215. I posted a regular fire hydrant sign before. However, most of those were elevated higher – sometimes much higher – and had a distinctive shape.pic.twitter.com/LP291krgXR
(This style was creatively reused by other things, chiefly bus stops.)pic.twitter.com/sZ4rCPBM6q
216. On the bus (where you board in the back, and leave in the front and pay your fare then), stop buttons were positioned at different heights to accommodate more people.pic.twitter.com/1Rsd0cdoJM
217. In many places I noticed this – a barrier separating people from cars, rather than a raised sidewalk.pic.twitter.com/Zu6XrgdRtY
218. Some street crossings offer to talk to you in many different languages.pic.twitter.com/8NXeI7vofu
219. I saw a bunch of interesting bike parking with similar UI and operations as those automated lockers. (And also, some lovely translation.)pic.twitter.com/Z1foXSfg5L
221. I also rented a bike. It was my first time biking on the left; taking right turns through intersections was even more frightening than biking on huge, scary bridges. (Bonus points if you notice a fun typographical detail in that last photo.)pic.twitter.com/gUXtNbDDM4
222. My bike lock had a thoughtful detail: it came with a little token with the lock combination so I didn’t have to memorize it or write it down.pic.twitter.com/5CzZWYOtJv
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