洗い流すのを忘れないでください。

This picture was taken in the restroom at the Kintetsu Utsube Line gate at Yokkaichi station. The Utsube line is one of the local lines between Yokkaichi and its surrounding areas. Since I live in Minami Hinaga （南日永） I use the Utsube（内部） line to get to Yokkaichi （四日市） and from there I can use the Kintetsu （近鉄） railway to go anywhere in the Kansai （関西） area, usually to Nagoya （名古屋） or Osaka（大阪）.

I found this sign a bit odd and I'll tell you why after the translation:

便用後（びんようご）- 'binyougo' is 'for service after' 便用 is the Kanji for 'for service' and 後 is 'after' often used in 後で （あとで）'atode' meaning 'later'.

は- is the subject marking particle.

水洗（すいせん）- 'suisen' is the noun for 'flushing'.

ボタン - 'botan' this borrowed word from English written in Katakana is 'button'.

を- 'wo' is the linking particle from the noun to the verb.

押して（おして）- 'oshite' is the verb for 'push'.

水を流してください（みずをながしてください） - 'mizu wo nagashite kudasai' is literally 'Please pour water', as I see it flushing water doesn't really 'pour' but more so 'shoots' or 'flows'. Since the act of flushing is to 'renew with clean water' I am going to translate this as 'flow' as it best correlates with the idea of 'cycling' the water.

Translation: "For service after, please push flushing button to flow water."

The reason this is odd, just like many signs in Japan, is because it's telling us something that should be common sense（常識） or instinctively intuitive that after taking a piss you should flush the toilet.

Although, the Wikipedia page about the trian line informs us that it was originally built in 1912 and rerouted to the current Yokkaichi station location in 1974; Kintetsu Yokkaichi looks to have been renovated since, while the Utsube line side looks as if it's never been changed since 1974 with the exception of adding electronic ticket machines and gates for commuter convenience. How can I make such a claim? Well, anyone who knows anything about Japan or has been to Japan knows that the Japanese love to install the latest in technological advancements into to every corner they can find. Concerning toilets, just about everywhere you go has sensor toilets with just a wave of the hand will flush the containing contents.

So what about this sign?

Maybe in a world where technology has overtaken our lives you forget that there are small places hiding about where you still have to push a button to get the job done and a simple reminder hanging on the wall will do just that.

Stay tuned for more friends,

そろそろ、しつれいします。

ジョシュア

オレはお金を持っていないんだから、道でたばこをすうな。

I saw this sign around the JR station in Nagoya. It's a smoking fish（魚） warning us of the dangers caused by smoking in front of 'No Smoking' signs.

The large（大きな） Kanji （漢字） to the right（右） reads:

違反者（いはんしゃ） - 'ihansha' which means 'Violator',　違反 means 'violation of law' and 者 means 'person'.

は - read as 'wa' marks the main subject of the sentence.

過料（かりょう） - 'karyou' means 'non-penal fine or correctional fine'.

２，０００円 （えん）- 'en' or commonly referred to in the West as the Yen is the currency of Japan. This Kanji, 円, also means 'circle' referring to a time when all of Japan's money were round coins.

Exchange rate for Dollar to Yen is roughly $1=100円. So 2,000 Yen is about 20 Dollars.

Translation: "Violators will be fined 2,000 yen."


On the left（下） side of the this sign next to the 'No Smoking' sign is the sentence:

路上禁煙は、大人の常識

路上（ろじょう）- 'rojou' means 'on the road' either standing or walking.

禁煙（きんえん）- 'kinen' is the Japanese phrase for 'No Smoking'.

は、- Here is our subject particle.

大人（おとな）- 'otona' means 'adult' which refers to a person 20 years or older.

の - 'no' is a possessive particle, but when we see 大人の together the translation becomes 'grown-up'.

常識（じょうしき）- 'joushiki' means 'common sense'.

Translation: "No smoking on the road is grown-up common sense."

Alright, so there you have it. If you get caught smoking on the street in places that are non-smoking you can be fined. This sign was posted near the doors around a busy area that crosses the JR station over to the Meitetsu station so I can understand that if people are standing around smoking in this area it could jam up the commuter flow going in and out of the stations.

それじゃ、楽しかったね！またすぐ。

ジョシュア

もう大阪で回るんでした。

Walking through the streets of Osaka's Shinsaibashi district there are many of these types of signs lining the streets. This one in particular caught my interest for two reasons; 1. It's an arrow giving me information about something and 2. those two Kanji in the middle are new to me. So let's see what it says:

この- kono means 'this' and is used before a noun to mean 'this ___'. 'This' can also be これ kore, which is used without the noun. It's primarily used in 何これ nani kore for 'What's this?'

先（さき）- saki has a lot of meanings, but its primary use is to mean 'ahead' and 'previous or before'.

段差（だんさ）- dansa is a noun that means 'difference in level'.

あり- ari is a short form for the polite verb form of ある aru あります arimasu which means that something physical 'exists' that is not living.

This sign is telling us, 'This ahead has a difference in level'. As I remember there was a bit of a hill leading up to the intersection, but I don't really think it was so much of a difference that constitutes the use of of sign to give me a warning. Then again it's these types of things that make Japan so great!!

それじゃあ、まったね。

ジョシュア

心謝意橋筋で散歩をしました。

Here is another photo from my camera phone album. This was taken in the Shinsaibashi arcade on my way to Honmachi.

Let's first look at the red(赤) Kanji(漢字):

事故（じこ）- 'Jiko' is made up of the Kanji 事 for 'thing or matter' and the Kanji 故 for 'cause, circumstance, reason' and together makes 'accident'.

発生（はっせい）- 'hassei' is made up of the Kanji 発 for 'departure or discharge' and the Kanji 生 for 'life, genuine, birth' and together makes 'incidence or occurrence'.

事故発生 means 'Accident Incidence'.

The Kanji in black(黒):

自転車（じてんしゃ）- These three Kanji, 'jitensha', together means 'bicycle'.

は- 'wa' is a topic marking particle.

押して（おして）- This is the 'て'(te) form of the verb 押す that means 'to push'.

下さい（ください）- 'kudasai' is a requesting 'please' usually written in Hiragana, but in most signs uses the Kanji 下 'down' to represent a bow of respect. (This is just speculation.)

自転車は押して下さい means 'Please push your bicycle.'

In the Shinsaibashisuji arcade is an orgy of people shopping and glaring at different things, or you could just say, "it's crowded." So you really shouldn't ride a bicycle through the people because you will probably hit someone, especially children who are small and easily unseen.

At the bottom(下):

せんば- This has no meaning that I can find, so it must distinguish this part of Shinsaibashi.

心斎橋筋（しんさいばしすじ）- These Kanji read as 'Shinsaibashisuji' which is a ward in Osaka.

協（きょう）- This Kanji is read as 'kyou' and means 'cooperation'.

それじゃぁ、

ジョシュア

飲酒運転はダメですよ！

I took this picture near the restroom in a Sukiya restraunt in Nipponbashi, Osaka. The sign is a pretty self-explanatory 'Don't drink and drive' message' so let's learn it in Japanese.

First let's read from the top(上) left(左) under the swerving car and glass of beer:

飲酒運転

飲酒（いんしゅ）- Here we use the Kanji for 'drink' 飲 and 'sake' 酒 which is Japanese for 'alcohol' to make the word 'inshu' which is 'drinking alcohol'.

運転（うんてん）- Here we have the Kanji 運 which means 'fortune/luck' and is also used for 'drive/transport'. 転 for 'revolve/turn around/change' when used together makes 'driving/operation'.

All together 飲酒運転 is 'drunk driving'.

To the right (右) in red (赤):

ご車でご来店

ご車（くるま）- Here we have 'gokuruma' where ご is used as an honorable prefix for 'your car'.

で- 'de' is a particle that has many uses and meanings. When partnered with a transportation vehicle で takes the meaning of 'by' so 車で is 'by car'.

ご来店（ごらいてん）- Here we see ご again with 'goraiten' where 来 means 'come' and 店 commonly read as 'mise' means 'store'. Together 来店 means 'coming to the store'.

All together ご車でご来店 is 'Coming to the store by car'.


The rest of sign is as follows:

お客様には、アルコール類の販売をお断りさせていただきます。

お客様（おきゃくあま）- 'okyakusama' is the word for 'customer'.

には、- 'niwa' are the two particles に and は. に is giving direction which would translate 'to the customer' and はis marking the subject.

アルコール類（るい）- In Katakana is 'alcohol' and the Kanji 類 'rui' is a designator of 'class/family/kind' which includes the whole list of alcoholic beverages that can impair your abilities.

の - 'no' is the possessive particle.

販売（はんばい）- 'hanbai' is the noun for 'sales/selling' that uses the Kanji 売 for 'sell'.

を - 'wo' is the linking particle to a verb.

お断りさせて（おことわりさせて）- 'okotowarisasete', although we read this as one word it's actually made up of noun and verb, the noun お断り which means 'refuse' and させてwhich is a form of
する 'suru' which is 'to do'. It is very common is Japanese to add a noun + する to make a verb for doing the noun, whatever it may be. This form する uses させて in the causative form.

Here I will direct you to Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese page of 'Cause to be Passive' for the full explanation.

いただきます- 'itadakimasu' in the root form いただく 'itadaku' is the verb for 'I will receive' it is the standard expression used before every meal or food/drink offered to you by someone else. Like in this sentence, it can also be used with important information you want someone 'to receive'.

This sentence in essence reads, 'To the customer coming by car, the selling of alcohol beverages will be refused.'

Now (今) let's look (見ましょう) at the Kanji (漢字) in (中) the picture (絵) below (下):

末成年者飲酒

末成年者飲酒（すえせいねんしゃいんしゅ）- 'sueseinenshainshu' OK, to understand this let's break it apart:

末 - 'sue' means 'end/close/future' which in this case I believe means 'future'.

成年 - 'seinen' has the Kanji 成 for 'become/change/grow' and the Kanji 年 for 'year' which together means 'adult age'.

者 - 'sha' is the Kanji used to label a type of 'person'.

飲酒 - We saw this above as 'drinking alcohol'.

All together this means literally (including the 'NO' indication in the sign) 'NO future adult age person drinking' or 'No underage drinking'.

２０歳末満

This part of the sign has two readings and clarifies the meaning:

２０歳末満（さいみまん）- 'saimiman' which means 'Less than 20 years old'.

２０歳末満（さいまつみつる）- 'saimatsumitsuru' which means '20 at the end of the year full'.

The rest is the same as under （下） the top （上） sign about the store's authority to refuse the sale of alcohol, in this case to 'minors'. You may be surprised, or not, that the legal drinking age in Japan is 20 years old, but to ease your jealousy the Japanese driving age is 18 years old.

以上です。

後ほど。

ジョシュア

大阪で回るんでした。

So finally, I got a new phone here in Japan. It's just a normal prepaid service phone from Softbank, but it's adoring factor is that it has a camera!! So during my recent visit to Osaka I took some photos of different signs around the city that I will be sharing during the coming weeks.

As you can see this photo came out a little blurry, but the Kanji is very readable, so let's learn what the cartoon cop is trying to stop us from doing:

駐（ちゅう）- This Kanji represents 'resident' and sometimes means 'to reside-in or stop-over'

車（しゃ）- This Kanji represents 'transport'. In old Japan it was used for 'cart or wagon' but now it most commonly is used for 'くるま' (kuruma) which means 'car'.

禁（きん）- This Kanji was in the last post and we remember it represents something that is 'forbidden'.

止（し）- This Kanji was also in the last post and means 'stop' usually seen in　'とまれ'.

All together:

駐車禁止（ちゅしゃきんし）- The word 'chushakinshi' means literally means 'Resident cars are not allowed to stop' or more commonly known as 'No Parking!'

それじゃぁ、

ジョシュア