Signs are a special chapter if you are talking about Japan. I believe that is because Kanji are tiny pictures itself and therefore there is no big difference between words and pictures. But there is also the aspect that Japanese always tend to adjective cute (=kawaii). Japan is still the origin of Hello Kitty.
wackelnde Fische
Nagoya is famous for its castle. The roof is decorated with two golden shachihoko. And you are right if you asume: If the fish is shaking, don’t drive you car! This street is a major evacuation route in Nagoya.
traurige Telefone
Hinweis auf Telefonleitungen
Hinweis auf Telefonleitungen
Sad phones and mean power shovel only exist in Japan. This sign (available in different verations) you can find everywhere in Japan. Here the company NTT reminds a contruction company that there is a phone line in the ground. Like always in Japan there is also a phone number you can call, of the mean power shovel relly mad the phone sad.
Foot note!
Notruftaste, nur für Notfälle
This sign I found inside Nagoya castle. There are many rules in Japan. Most of them are not written down. But that Japanese also respect the written word is amazing. No one else would ask you to not step on a footnote. But, maybe, they only talk about the metal beam on that they mounted the sign.
In Japan every ban is also followed by the reason. „Don’t ride your bike here and pay attention to older people.“ In Germany it would only be „Bike are prohibited!“ In Japan a ban is always like a request to your good manners. This is a complete different approach. All the rules are there to create respect and harmony.
Bitte an Fahrgäste der Yamanote
Yamanote line is always crowded. So you again should have good manners and behave „compact“ (right part of the banner). On the left side it is explained why you should not smoke in public places. After this you don’t mind all the other advises and requests.
Hinweis auf der Straße in Chuoku
Sorry, Baustelle
kein Zutritt
And with all the remains that could be found on the streets in Luebeck, I really would welcome a German version of the following sign. But I am also confident that they would be ignored with typical German arrogance.
gefunden in Gifu
Hunde an die Leine
A little bit disturbing is the fear of trains. But those sign are also a good example, how Japan is working. Even without able or willing to read the japaneses characters, you instantly know what they are takling about. No explaination needed.
Spielen im Gleisbett ist gefährlich
Notruftaste am Bahnübergang
Here the final sign: Clash. This sign I found in the trainstation Hamamatsucho, Tokyo. It is one of my favorites, right behind the wobbling carp from Nagoya.
Japan is the country with the most vending machines. There are 6 millions. Statistically 1 machine for 20 Japanese !!! The power consumtion is huge. Aprox. 1000W for one machine will end up to 6GW or 4 nuclear power plants !!! If you put it that way: The 4 destroyed reactors in Fukushime Daiichi were only need for all the vending machines. On the other side this machines are necassary. You won’t miss them in summer. They are live saving like the air condition in the hotel (And they need even more nuclear power plants).
so muß ein Getränkeautomat aussehen
The vending machines offer cold and hot drinks. I don’t know how the Japanese are drinking hot canned coffee? I always burn my fingers.
Another advantage of vending machines are trash cans. Beside in Hiroshima I never saw a public trash can in Japan. Usually there behind an entrance gate or at a train platform. Places you need a ticket for. The only free accessable trash cans are next to a vending machine.
There are vending machines for everything: Coffee, tea, lemonade, beer and sake … (but beer and sake are declining, because Japan has tightened the youth protection) … cigarettes, batteries, SD-cards for digital cameras, eggs, underwears, lingerie. And to clean up with the myth: There were vending machines for used female underwear in Tokyo. But they were removed after public protests. Looks like there are limits even in Japan.
Automaten
Paying is easy. The vending machines accept coins and notes. This is a nice benefit by the way. You can change money because on some places you have to pay without getting change. You should always have some coins in your pocket. Some machines also accept Suica and Pasmo. This is the RFID-version of a credit card. The Suica started as a payment system for the Tokyo subway. The vending machine in the picture above also has a IR interface and a display scanner for payments by mobile phone. I still don’t know what the bunny-button is for.
If you travel thru foreign countries, you will become in contact with things you never saw before. In Japan this includes all kind of food, but also tools of the daily life. And I don’t talk about the rice cooker. There are far more crazy things. In my travel blog I gave myself a limit of 12 pictures per day. Therefore is was not always possible to show you the things I saw while I was rushing from attraction to attraction. In 2009 I was not in Japan. Therefore I dedicated this year to all the things that make Japan a crazy but loveable place; the things that will cause the cultural shock, you heard about.
Umbrella
Japanese are very concerned about always having a umbrella available. July and August is rain saison. Umbrellas are mandatory. You can buy one in every 7eleven for only 100yen ($1). Sometimes you can get one as a give-away. If you make a fuzz about umbrellas, you also have the following things covered:
This is a umbrella locker in front of a restaurant. You can store your wet umbrella outside and be sure that is stays there. But who should steal an umbrella? Everyone has a umbrella. I first recognized these lockers in 2004 and said this is overdoing. But in 2008 I saw this: A „wet-umbrella-into-a-bag-o-mat“. You fold your wet umbrelle and put it into the hole in the top. After a few seconds your umbrella is inside a plastic bag. It will not bother other customer or soil the products.
Regenschirmschließfach
Regenschirmentütautomat
Plastikfutter
Plastic food
The story is told that plastic food was invented in Meiji restauration. During this area a lot of foreign people (mostly from England) arrived in Japan. No one was able to read Kanji. A innkeeper had the idea to show the food that can be ordered in his restaurant. You may know this from the cantine at the company or university. You can say that the Japanese perfected this art.
This has a big benefit I often used: You asked the waiter to follow you outside. Then you show him the food you want. The order is done without a kanji dictionary. There is nothing shameful about it. Plastic food was invented for this in the first place. A digital camera is a upgrade to this methode. Take picture and show it to the waiter.
Dinge des Alltags
How else shall I name them? For Japanese these things are totally normal. But for Europeans they are exotic, somehow. Even if the Japanese life is becoming more western style and we know a lot about Japan. These are also the things we automatically recognize from anime. Public phones are green. And the have IR and RJ45-jackets for Notebooks. You can use them as a modem. With there old fashioned design the look like the dinosaur of modern communication.
Everywhere in Japan you will see the red buckets filled with water. You will find them in old temples as well as in narrow streets in megacity Tokyo. Modern rules prescribe smoke detectors and fire extinguisher, but the red bucket is still a part of a japanese street scene. The Kanji mean „Use in case of fire“.
das grüne Telefon
Feuerlöscheimer
es gibt auch noch „Deer“
ehrlich: keine Ahnung
The following is really something special. I saw it 2010 in Sounkyo Onsen. The securing of a contruction site was perfected in Japan (I mentioned it when I talked about Ueno). But this also includes the perfectioning of the site fence. I heard that there are also deers.
This the other thingie is … I don’t know how to put it, but it looks completely normal if you are in Japan. And I really hope that this is the bus of a kindergarden. Every other explaination would be strange.
Prejudgements
And the following really exits. Female tour guide with a stupid hat and a flag. And you can be sure that the hole tour group will wear a badge that has the same color and picture as the flag.
If there is a tour guide, there also is a tour bus. Combine this with the fact that Japan is „Hello-Kitty-Land“ you will end up with this (and no, that is not the bus of a kindergarden).
Let’s bring some organisation into all the impression I collected in Japan. — seidenpriester started as a brief blog about my 4th trip ti Japan. After that I started to post the previous travles here too. The focus of all the entries was traveling to different places. But usually there was no space for all the stuff that I dicovered while walking down an ordinary street. The whole and complete experience is missing … Why do I like Tokyo? … Why are Japanese annoy us so much? … Where is the clash of cultures?
So I started to add some infomration by gahtering topics. This section will grow and grow. I created a small menu and they are created as a blog post So you can easily browse thru this series. There are already 10 blogs about Japanese architecture. Here is a small overview:
Fire Fighter in Japan .. Maybe you know my second hobby, beside Japan. It is the fire department. And of course there are some pages about fire fighters in Japan.
Food .. In Japan food is more than just nutrition. Every region has a specialty. Food is always presented with style, even in the smallest and cheapest soup kitchen … And, that is the second meaning of this posts: There is more than Sushi.
Onsen .. Taking a bath is not just cleaning yourself, it is something you can celebrate. It is a happening and taking a both in a natural hot spring is part of the Japenese soul. There are some rules to follow but they are easy. There should be no holiday in Japan without visiting an onsen and just a simple yu.
Vending machines .. They are erverywhere, literally. And they are so Japanese.
Signs .. Sings in Japan are soooooo different. And that is not because the use Japanese characters (Kanji), But the brain interprete Kanji like pictures and not like letters. It is true. A different part of the brain is used. Automatically with difference between japanese text and pictures does not exist in the brain. Additionally the Japanese are like big children, somehow.
Movies vs. Real Life .. Fast & Furious Tokyo Drift and Jumper were the reason for this page. First you think that they overdo a little bit here and there. But no. they don’t. Tokyo is always like the whole city is on speed. And then you discover certain things like leaving Ginza subway station and ending up in Shibuya.
Anime vs. Real Life .. Anime are sometimes very close to reality. There are streets in Kamakura where I said: Wait a second I know this road, there is temple around the corner. And sometimes I watch a anime and think: Wait a minute, there is no 7eleven in this street.
Architecture .. Tokyo can be explored in two ways:: Shrines and temples or old buildings and modern architecture and city development. The city has it all. It is like a big laboratory with city planner and designer.
Sie wirken wie aus einem Manga und sie sind überall. Jede Stadt hat sie; jeder Sportverein, ob Fußball oder Baseball; Jede Feuerwehr und Polizei hat eine: Maskottchen.
Obwohl ich nicht wirklich nach ihnen gesucht habe, laufen sie einem früher oder später über den Weg. Meine wenigen Fotos sind nur die Spitze vom Eisberg. Hier mein Favorit, ein Inbegriff von Kawaii:
Hikonyan [20121225]
Der Begriff Yuru-Chara ist eine Verkürzung von yurui mascot character. Yurui kann man als sanft, weich oder entspannt (laid-back) übersetzten. Ein Yuru-Chara soll prinzipiell über drei Eigenschaften verfügen:
starke Verbindenheit zur Heimatstadt oder Region.
Die Bewegung soll einmalig, instabil und merkwürdig sein.
Der Charakter soll unkompliziert und entspannt sein.
Aus meiner Sicht erfüllen 95% der Yuru-Chara diese Anforderung. Zu den restlichen 5% gehören Monster (bei denen der Designprozess irgendwo falsch abgebogen ist) und auch ein blauer Zombie-Bär. In Hokkaido gibt beispielsweise eine Kreuzung aus Melone und Bär mit Draculazähnen (leider kein Foto); sprich: manche Yuru-Chara haben das Potential für Albträume.
Das Charakterdesign bezieht sich meist auf eine lokale Spezialität oder Besonderheit. Das ist nimmer immer von Vorteil, will sagen dass manche Maskottchen sehr merkwürdig aussehen (siehe Kurashiki); als hätte sie ein 3-Jähriger mit Wachskreide entworfen.
Die enorme Popularität lässt sich wohl nur mit der Kultur Japans am Besten begründen. Seit jeher gibt es hunderte von Oni und Yokai in Japan. Wie sonst wären Filme wie Mononoke Hime (Prinzession Mononoke) und Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Chihiros Reise) denkbar. Da ist es dann wohl nicht weit zum anthropogenen Gemüse und einem Draculamelonenbär.
Hier ein paar Maskottchen, die mir über den Weg gelaufen sind:
Kyoto, diverse
Ginza; Lion Beer Hall
Otsu
Tateyama-Kurobe-Pass
Minakami
Der Start des Yuru-Chara-Booms liegt im Jahr 2007 in Hikone. Zum 400. Geburtstag der Burg wurde Hikonyan erfunden (siehe oben).
Zu diesen Zeitpunkt gab es schon viele Maskottchen. In 2008 startete das erste Yuru-chara-Matsuri. 2010 folgte der Yuru-Chara-Grand-Prix, in dem das beliebteste Maskottchen gewählt wird. Mit über 50 Milionen Zuschauern (in 2015) hat das fast etwas von Eurovision Song Contest. 2010 gewann übrigens Hikonyan. 2011 gewann Kumamon, über den wir noch reden müssen.
Kitakami
Kitakami
2014 gab es schon über 3000 Charaktere. Heute (6 Jahre später) kann ich nur raten, da ich keine aktuellen Zahlen finde. Diese enorme Anzahl hat liefert auch Probleme. Wenn jedes Dorf und jeder Straßenzug ein Maskottchen haben, wirkt die Marktwirkung des Regionalmaskottchen natürlich verwässert.
Ins Guinnessbuch haben es die Yuru-Chara auch geschafft: 2013 mit dem größten Maskottchen-Tanz (134 tanzende Maskottchen) und ebenfalls 2013 mit den meisten Maskottchen auf einer Veranstaltung (376 Teilnehmer auf dem 4. Yuru-Chara-Matsuri in Hanyu).
Da die Yuru-Chara nicht ständig im Dienst sind, trifft man oft ihre Pappversion, oder Plastikversion …
Kurashiki
Yamagata
Morika Stadium (?)
Hirosaki
Matsumoto
Tora-san; Shibamata
Zugegeben, beim leztzen Bild handelt es sich um kein offizielles Maskottchen. Das ist Tora-san aus der Fernsehserie „Otoko wa tsurai yo“ von Yamada Yoji. Die Serie spielt in Shibamate und wurde zwischen 1969 und 1995 gedreht. In der ganzen Stadt finden sich Statuen.
Kumamon
Lets talk about the bear in the room … Kumamon ist das Maskottchen von Kumomoto. Gerade nach dem Erdbeben 2016, bei dem die Burg von Kumamoto schwer beschädigt wurde, war es Kumamon, der auf PR-Tour ging. Der Marktwert dieser Figur beträgt heute (2020) unglaubliche 1 Mrd. Yen (ca. 10 Mio. Euro). — Eigentlich ist es nur ein Bär (jap.: kuma) mit roten Backen. Besonders kawaii finde ich ihn nicht.
Kumamon
Kumamon
Kumamon Eki
Ni-Tama
Maskottchen sind nicht nur auf Kostüme beschränkt. Das bekannteste Beispiel ist wohl (Ni-)Tama, eine Katze. Ihre Mutter (Tama) war eine streunende Katze an einem Bahnhof im Nichts einer bankrotten Bahngesellschaft. Es begann als Gag, aber die Katze wurde erst Station Master, dann Super-Station Master und später sogar Vize-Präsidentin (kein Witz) der Bahngesellschaft. Heute wird Tama als Kami (Shintogottheit) im Schrein auf dem Bahnhofsgelände verehrt. Der Wirbel um den filinen Super-Stationmaster spült heute hunderte Touristen zum Bahnhof und hält die Bahnlinie so am Leben. Und natürlich war ich einer der Touristen.
Guide to Wakayama Dentetsu
Kishi Station (Cat Design)
Tama-Train
Tama Cafe
Stairs to Platform
Ni-Tama on service
Doramon und Co.
Und dann gibt es noch beliebte Manga-Figuren. Das sind streng genommen keine Yuru-Chara. Aber ich will sie trotzdem am Beispiel von Toyama erwähnen. Doraemon ist ein Roboterkatze auf Zeitreise (nehmt das jetzt einfach mal so hin). Einer der Erfinder ist Hiroshi Fujimoto, der in Takaoka geboren wurde. Wer heute nach Takaoka fährt findet Doramon überall: Stuen, Briefkästen, eine Straßenbahn mit Doraemon-Thema, …
Doramon
Doramon
Doramon-Tram
Doramon-Tram
Doramon
Doramon-Tram
Der Stadtteil Toranome Hills springt auf den Zug auf … Das wäre dann auch ein super Überleitung zum Thema „Geezer Puns“. Aber lassen wir das. Viel interessanter ist: Toranom hat Katzenohren!!!
Toranomon
Toranomon
Maskottchen im Sport sind auch im Westen bekannt. Dennoch. Auch sie gehören dazu …
Harry Hawk; Fukuoka Softbank Hawks
Fukuoka Softbank Hawks
Clutchnya and Clutch; Tohoku (Sendai) Rakuten Eagles
Kurz: Wer in Japan reist, kommt um Yuru-Chara nicht herum.