I spent last week in my mother's hometown, an area of Germany with more pigs than people, for a cousin's wedding. I found this helpful sign teaching toilet brush use in the bathroom of our bed and breakfast. You might be able to guess this, but 'falsch' means 'incorrect', 'fast richtig' means 'almost correct' and 'richtig' means 'correct'. To be honest though, this sign doesn't … [Read more...]
Did You Know Hello Kitty Has an Evil Twin?
Japan has to be the world export leader of all things cute and among their cute exports, Hello Kitty is probably the most famous. Everyone knows her, but very few are familiar with her equally cute, but decidedly more evil, twin Hell Kitty. Surprisingly, it's the good twin who seems to have set her sights on world domination, with stores and products all over the planet, while … [Read more...]
Spring Themed Japanese Smoking Manners Posters
I figured it's time for some spring-themed smoking manners posters. This first one refers to the pollen problem in Japan, which really does get pretty bad, thanks to the Japanese Cedar. Most visitors end up suffering quite a bit, even if they don't generally get allergies in their home countries. Luckily I never had a problem, but most of my less perfect coworkers always got … [Read more...]
Winter Themed Japanese Smoking Manners Posters
Fellow blogger Erica Jordan recently brought an article to my attention about a new strategy being adopted by the anti-smoking organization "Legacy". Rather than focus on the health consequences of smoking as they've been doing, they are now attacking cigarettes as litter. My immediate thought was: "That's not new!" That sign is one of almost 80 in a long-running smoking … [Read more...]
Japanese “Smoking Manners” Posters Get Philosophical
After the intentionally funny "smoking manners" poster I put up last week, I decided to go with an unintentionally funny—and deeply philosophical—one this week. I'll post a few more of these in the future, but don't worry, I won't go through all 70 or so in the long-running ad campaign by Japan Tobacco. … [Read more...]