Saturday 8 November 2008

Priority Seat


優先席、 おゆずり下さい、 この席を必要としているお客さまがいます。
乳幼児をお連れの方・妊娠している方・お年寄りの方・からだの不自由な方
ゆうせんせき、 おゆずりください、 このせきをひつようとしているおきゃくさまがいます。
にゅうようじをおつれのほう・にんしんしているほう・おとしよりのほう・からだのふじゆうなほう
Priority seat, please turn over this seat to people who need it:
People accompanying infants, pregnant people, the aged, disabled people.

Not the clearest picture, but it was on the train. You can see the picture corresponds to the types of people described. I especially noticed the picture of the aged person. They are bent forward, which is somewhat of a stereotypical image of an older person in Japan. The reason for this, as far as I can tell, is that older Japanese people are far more susceptible to osteoporosis than Westerners, perhaps because of an aversion to dairy foods leading to a lack of calcium. I've rarely seen someone whose back is really deformed because of this in Australia, however in Tokyo I see these hunched over little old ladies all the time.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

shouldn't 方 be かた every time?