Tell Your Neighbors, Tell Your Friends

In Japan, as in my native America, warning signs are everywhere. "Video Cameras in Operation," "Neighborhood Watch,""Caution: Children at Play," and the like. The major difference is that warning signs of this nature in the United States are typically text-only, or feature some very simple silhouette-style image to clarify the point, as in this sign from Daly City, California:

(From Daly City's website)

In Japan, the signs are a bit different. Rather than a majority of standard block-letter text and a clipart-style icon, they tend to feature a greater amount of color, wider variety of fonts and text sizes, and much more dynamic images, often cartoonized in a manga style that would perhaps not be taken as seriously in the US. In short, warning signs in Japan tend to be much more graphic. Take, for example, these posters from the city of Neyagawa, Osaka:

The poster in this first image is an anti-littering plea. "Stop!" it reads, "[Don't] throw things away." The greater part of the poster is taken up with cartoon images of tossed and broken bottles, cans, and cigarettes, anthropomorphized and all apparently in a state of distress. The sign does not simply command the cessation of littering, or threaten litterers in large text with a fine, as does one roadside message in my California hometown. It goes further, and invokes an emotional command: the very PET bottles you toss aside will be hurt by your doing so; think twice. Whether or not this is an effective method remains to be seen...

This picture contains three examples (as well as the motorcyclist who appeared from nowhere just as the shutter closed) in a series that repeats itself all along this particular street. From top to bottom, "Pick up after your dog," "Do not litter," and, "Do not smoke while walking" (having thus far encountered no dog poop, I can attest to the community's respect of poster 1, but for the latter I unfortunately cannot). All three images feature bright colors and detailed cartoon drawings. The text is highlighted with red circles to pinpoint the most important parts of the message. The people in the drawings are detailed enough that they are no longer simply depictions of "a person," but have expressions and a definite character. It is possible that this kind of "characterized" specifity can have a distancing effect, and cause the viewer to think, "I don't look like that. That isn't me. Therefore, this doesn't apply to me/doesn't have to do with me." It is the same problem faced by anyone who wishes to create any kind of PSA to deliver a message to a wide audience. If one wants to create a 15 second PSA against teen drug use, for example, what kind of teenager should one feature? A boy, a girl? Someone living in the city? Someone scruffy-looking? Someone with blue nail polish? The problem with trying to deliver a visual message of example to "everyone" is that "everyone" is not one image, and in the above example, the viewer of such a PSA can very easily feel that to he or she it is irrelevant, even on so small a basis as, "That kid's wearing a red sweatshirt, and I don't wear red sweatshirts. This doesn't have to do with me."Still, if one remembers that  "kid in the red sweatshirt," and thereby the message conveyed, perhaps the disassociation factor is not, after all, so very important.

The above two signs warn against purse snatchers and bicycle thieves, respectively. Both are also very much in a manga style, what with the speech bubbles and sense of action created by lines--suggesting movement. The blazing headline on the purse-snatching poster is so large and animated that if one did not bother to inspect the image with more than a very cursory glance, one might assume the poster was, in fact, some sort of manga cover.
In a similarly dramatized vein are the anti-chikan (groper/molester) posters one often finds around stations in Japan.

Courtesy of "Nopy's Blog: Japan Trip - Week 4"

While I did not take the image above, I came across the same sign a year ago in Saitama prefecture, and must admit that it rung rather disturbing. It depicts an anime-style schoolgirl--often the victims of molestation on trains because their daily commute to school requires many schoolchildren to ride trains at rush hour, when they are packed full like sardine cans--brandishing a sign with a "X" at a large, disembodied hand in the foreground. "Chikan! I won't forgive you!" it reads, and asks for the cooperation of everyone riding on the train.

Also from "Nopy's Blog"

But there is something about this particular image that made me feel frightened, rather than on guard. The way in which the girl is framed, cornered on the seat by the giant, approaching hand, and something about her expression, when examined closely, that reads less as determination or fortitude so much as vulnerability and fear. As a woman boarding the train, these are probably the last things one wants in mind. The graphicality of the poster certainly catches one's attention, and makes a strong impression.
Other, similar examples feature images of women or schoolchildren under the nearly Hitchcockian threat of monster-like hands in the foreground. Above all, the image of the threat, the chikan, is always anonymous, as the attacker often remains during and after the attacks. Similar to the PSA conundrum mentioned earlier, images of chikan, if their bodies are shown, are usually attired in suits, as many offenders have been shown to be salarymen on their own daily commutes. Still, even when faces are in the picture, they are left in silhouette (see this example). In the very colorful and character-filled world of Japan's warning signs, this kind of graphical omission is very striking. It clearly sends the message to the reader: it could be anyone.

From "Mechakucha"

Whether they inspire fear or sympathy, Japan's unique, often bright and stylized warning signs certainly inspire a response, and one that is usually emotional.