A lot of towns in Japan have mascots (my town’s are a pair of anthropomorphic firefly squid), and the police force in Toyama prefecture has one too. Tateyama-kun is a literal mountain in a police uniform, so named after the area’s most sacred and important peak.
It’s been a little while since my last Japan Adventures post, and if you’re just joining in, I occasionally share random assortments of pics I take in Japan. Most of them are from weekend excursions and longer vacations, but this month I’m featuring odd signage and items I’ve stumbled across on Japanese streets and store shelves. Enjoy!
While canned air for bike tires is all kinds of an awesome idea, did they have to feature an old-timey big-wheeled bike?
Most of the English I see in Japanese shops isn’t wrong or grammatically incorrect per se, just oddly formal, with the word not quite fitting the context. This Father’s Item is a perfect example.
The Japanese literally use the word tabako (tobacco) to refer to cigarettes instead of the plant, one of many English loan words whose meaning was somewhat altered in borrowing. Cigarette vending machines are still common here, and like this one, require prospective buyers to scan their IDs to prove they’re over the legal age of 20. The Nice Day, Nice Smoking slogan feels right out of the era of cigarette machines in the States.
No comment needed. Western-style bars and restaurants with cowboy themes are fairly common here, sometimes featuring odd city names and random highway numbers.
While such a name would clearly never fly in twenty-first century America, the White Land ski slope in Unazuki Onsen feels remarkably innocent, with nary a hint of racial tension. Perhaps it’s because of the bunny rabbits?
I’m a big fan of cool restroom signs, and this smartly dressed male-female pair ranks among my faves.
A modern kids playground in front of an old Buddhist temple in Kanazawa. While such pairings feel anachronistic to us, many older temples and shrines in Japan have been integrated with the modern cities around them to the point where they’re often flanked by taller offices and apartments in close proximity. I like to think this playplace was intentionally built so kids would have something to do while their parents prayed.
Finally, the Japanese take their claw machine games seriously, and the machines often feature big-ticket prizes to lure in customers. The sex appeal, of course, doesn’t hurt.