Sunday 23 November 2008

Near a Fire Hydrant.


消防署の通達により、 ここに駐停車できません。 管理組合
しょうぼうしょのつうたつにより、 ここにちゅうていしゃできません。かんりくみあい
Notice from the fire department, you can't stop your car here. Management society (of the building).

I suspect bigger buildings have a kind of maintenance and management office, which is what is probably meant by the management society. The building's management.

On a Train Platform


ご案内
ごあんない
Information

Some words have an honorific prefix in Japanese, ご or お, in such words as お酒 (おさけ, sake) or ご主人 (ごしゅじん, husband ). A bit of a noob trick, but if you can't find a word in the dictionary and it starts with ご or お, then just remove this prefix and search for the original word.

In Some Shinkansen Station or Another


名古屋・東京方面、 ひかり、 のぞみ、 自由席1-5号車、 停車駅
なごや・とうきょうほうめん、 ひかり、 のぞみ、 じゆうせき1-5ごうしゃ、 ていしゃえき
Nagoya, Tokyo direction, skips-most-stations Shinkansen, extra high speed Shinkansen, unreserved seats cars 1-5, stations where trains stop

Just the most pertinent points. As you can see there is some English. I didn't really know how to format it, and it was hard to shoot because it flashes from English to Japanese over and over.

On a Drink Machine


氷なし、 先に押してください、 マークにはたらきます。
こおりなし、 さきにおしてください、 まーくにはたらきます。
Without ice, press the button before, it works on the ones marked (with the little snowy mountain shape).

I've never tried such an extravagant option on my soft drink. I just take it as it comes, baby.

On a Postal ATM


硬貨を入れないで下さい。 紙幣
こうかをいれないでください。 しへい
Don't put coins (in here). Bills

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.

To the JR Station


エレベーター、 JR方面、 地上階行き
エレベーター、 JRほうめん、 ちじょうかいゆき
Elevator, the direction to the JR (station), go towards the ground level.

The Metro stations are usually underground, whereas often the JR stations are above ground because they service the further outlying areas of Tokyo.

Accident


事故
じこ
Accident

I saw this at the scene of a minor prang.