Sign Test

The much awaited sign test!! I hope you all enjoy and will send me your results (you can comment here or send me an email merryhammes@hotmail.com)

One thing I would love to relay to all of you back home is how humbling it is to be illiterate. I have taken photos of some everyday signs here in Himeji and I thought it would be fun for all of you to see if you can figure out what they are. So, get a piece of paper out and number it 1 - 25. Make a note of each one and then check the answers at the end when you are done. No cheating. Let me know how you do. (I hope those of you who read this via hard copy at church with Red enjoy this as well. Hello to all of you!)

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

#13

#14

#15

#16

#17

#18

#19

#20

#21

#22

#23


#24


#25

Are you ready for the answers?

#1 no parking

#2 fire hydrant (they are located underground, kind of like a manhole cover)

I wanted you to see the real sign as it is in English (I know I cheated, but it was fun wasn't it) I used Memory Manager software to 'get rid' of the English words.

#3 speed limit (30 kilometers per hour)

#4 bus schedule (the white section is Mon - Fri, the blue section is Sat, and the pink section is Sundays and holidays. Sometimes the schedules are listed top, middle, bottom.

#5 crosswalk for pedestrians only

#6 school children walking during the hours of 7:30am - 8:30am, please limit car traffic (Sundays and holidays excluded)

#7 The bottom sign (the arrow) means one way. The white circle with the blue line means that the one way street ends here.

#8 Children at play

#9 Do Not Enter

#10 Slow down (the triangle sign). The rest of the sign is to tell everyone that bikes and walkers should stay to the right and cars to the left.

#11 Men's staff restroom

#12 Women's staff restroom

#13 Street sign indicating that this is the Shinzaike neighborhood and it is section 5 chrome 1. They do not have named streets in the neighborhoods.

#14 School children commuting (watch out for many school children) Similar to our school zone signs.

#15 speed limit (40 kph) & no parking

#16 Delivery service available. The black mama cat carrying the baby cat indicates that you can buy at this store and have your purchases delivered to your home (for a fee)

#17 Adults, children and bicycles crossing here

#18 no passing & speed limit (50 kph)

#19 No trucks allowed & no parking.

#20 just a traffic sign giving you directions for driving.

#21 the red one is the sign for the the Japan Post office. The green one is a sign for an ATM. You can use your American ATM to withdraw funds from your American account from these ATMs.

#22 elderly people crossing (I pass this one on my way to Shogai every week)

#23 stop sign and it is painted on the street

#24 Safety Evacuation area. I think this is for earthquakes.

This sign is in English too so in case there is an earthquake, we will know where to go. Just about every school is a Safety Evacuation Area.

#25 This was Mitch's contribution. We think it is telling the kids to be careful because the cars will squish them and make blood come out.

I hope you enjoyed this blog. I had fun capturing all the different signs and then asking my Japanese friends to explain some of them.