A poster on a wall at a subway station in Tokyo reminds commuters to keep the volume down on whatever they are listening to while on the train.
© Japan Today
Keep it down
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A poster on a wall at a subway station in Tokyo reminds commuters to keep the volume down on whatever they are listening to while on the train.
© Japan Today
15 Comments
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jeffb
At least they're all wearing masks. Even to show the perpetrator maskless would subtly reinforce the ability to go out and about face unadorned. 10/10 propaganda.
purple_depressed_bacon
Trains in Japan are like morgues - deathly quiet and full of zombies. Awful atmosphere.
Speed
At least they're not using a gaijin as the perpetrator like they always used to back in the 80s and early 90s.
Julius
Given that English is often absent from even safety notices about potentially fatal threats, the prominent use of English in this public scolding serves much the same purpose as the cartoon foreigner bogeyman.
Yes, it is a little more subtle. So, sure, you are right, the "we are better than them, they are the cause of all trouble" message might not be so in your face as before.
Nevertheless, that message by the population is received loud and clear. Security notices, "police on patrol" notices. A cursory glance at how and where English is used in Japan provides a pretty accurate impression of the government's position on non-Japanese people: interlopers and potential troublemakers who need to be kept under tight surveillance since poor behavior is "in their nature".
bass4funk
Not in Fukuoka on the weekends for sure, it's like a party going on in the evenings.
Ah_so
Japan has the best train posters. If you ever visit Japan, have a look at them, especially the travel ones.
K3PO
The noise is one thing to warn people of, but definitely ban that silly air guitaring.
purple_depressed_bacon
As least it shows signs of life and joie de vivre. Give me a New York subway or London tube any day over the blank empty stares of Japanese train commuters.
starpunk
I'm 56 and when I attended shows before the CoVid pandemic, I'd sometimes do that 'air guitaring' dance, when it 'fit'. At a ZZ Top show (balloon fest), I did that with someone else and we had our shades on and did that stepping/flexing left-to-right posture that you see them do on MTV. At Cheap Trick shows, air guitaring really comes in handy! Even when I saw Nick Lowe in a theater about 3 years ago, or Nebula or even 38 Special I did that. You can 'duet' with your friends too.
It's just good fun. You do know there actually are contests in air guitaring now, doncha? The players often 'play' punk or thrash and they're judged by dexterity, speed and even swishing their hair around. A young man from Japan recently first prize a few years ago at a contest held in Copenhagen.
David K Anderson
Who rides a train for the "atmosphere?" The quiet is one of the attractions of train travel in Japan. I'll take not being subjected to someone's garbage taste in music or bellowing conversation any day.
starpunk
The BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) system is fast and pretty quiet. And pretty clean too. Much of the San Francisco area is like that.
OTOH, the metro in Toronto is noisy as hell but it IS fast, clean and very efficient. Montreal's is quite better.