責男一歩前で

 Here's a handwritten sign in the restroom where I work in front of the urinals. 

私 - I
は- Main subject particle
 汚しません（よごしません）- Don't make dirty/pollute
責男（せめおとこ）- Responsible man
も - Particle that means 'also'
一歩（いっぽ）- One step
前（まえ）- Forward/Closer
で - Particle that can be used with place and sometimes can end a sentence

Translation: I don't make it dirty, so the responsible man also take one step forward.

Honestly, I had a lot of trouble with these two Kanji:

The style in which it is handwritten doesn't read very well for my untrained eye in handwritten Kanji. I'm so use to seeing Kanji in books and on computer screens in their digital format that sometimes the hand written version looks alien to me. Especially 男. The line on the left doesn't connect to the rest of the square so I was convinced it was something else but after using all my resources I've concluded that it has to be 男.

If you agree or disagree please let me know. Also, if you have any hand written Kanji sign pictures please share them here at death by kanji. 

以上です。

ジョシュア 

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公園で

This is a funny sign I saw at the park I take my preschool students to in the afternoon.

公園は　（こうえん）- The park

犬　（いぬ）- Dog

ネコ- Cat

の- Possessive particle

トイレ- Toilet

では - Particle for 'At'

ありません- is not

Translation: The park is not a toilet for dogs and cats.

Down at the bottom in red:

That first word I can't read very well from the picture and can't remember, when I go back to the park I will update.

マナー - This is katakana for Manners

を - A linking particle 'noun to verb'

守って（まもって）- To protect or guard

飼いましょう（かいましょう）- Keep, in ～しょう form adds a meaning of 'Let's'

Translation: Let's keep and protect our manners.

This sign must be helpful because there is rarely any dog poo around. The Japanese are pretty good at cleaning up after their pets. Unfortunately, this park gets overcrowded with high school students in the evening who throw trash on the ground, break bottles and probably use it as a toilet. Young Japanese are not learning to be responsible for their behavior or respect for their environment. In Japan it is true that if you make a mess somebody will probably come along and clean it up. Young Japanese are becoming or have become ungrateful for this service and abuse it when ever possible. On the other hand, with Japan's lack of trash boxes in public places like in parks, on the street, and sometimes in the station it's hard to just blame the Japanese for being messy when you have nowhere to put your trash and of course I'm not going to carry it around with me, but rumor is they're the same way at home where mom's clean up everything, cooks dinner, does the laundry, etc. It makes sense why children never move out. This isn't just a Japanese problem it happens in America, England, Canada and other places. We've been raised as a generation of privilege, but now it feels as that hole of privilege we've been digging has gotten too deep and now we can't see the light. It's our own fault. We've made it too easy to be irresponsible with money, food, and trash. And now, our children have learned from us the art of privilege and demand more of it, especially in societies that are falling apart and can't support privilege anymore.

This is just an observation and of course doesn't apply to everyone. Please comment with your opinion about Kanji, Japan, Japanese, or whatever.

ジョシュア

何が意味ですか？

I took this picture in the restroom at the Nagoya International center where I take Japanese classes on Sundays. I was curious as always what this sign was trying to communicate to me, so let's translate!


お願い（おねがい）- 'wish' usually お願いします 'please do this favor' commonly used expression at the end of a request when doing just about everything.

ビル - Katakana word for 'building'

の - the possessive particle to declare 'the building's ...'

設備（せつび）- 'equipment'

～につき - this is a type of special particle that works as either a preposition, adverb or sometimes an article with meanings like 'for, to, from or a' in this form we read it as 'for'

待ち（まち）- 'wait'

～出さないで（ださないで）- normally 出す is 'take out' and in the negative is 'don't take out', but here it is used together with 待ち that changes the meaning to 'begin' or since its in the negative 'don't begin'

下さい（ください）- 'please'

Translation: "Please don't begin to wait for the building's equipment"

名古屋（なごや）- Kanji for the city of Nagoya
国際センター（こくさい）- Kanji for the International center aka Kokusai center
防災センター（ぼうさい）- Kanji for the Disaster Prevention center

The title of this post is 何が意味ですか？that means "what is the meaning?' because this sign seems to have no context until we get to the bottom and see 防災センター. Now we may have a clue to why we shouldn't begin to wait for the building's equipment, that probably infers not waiting in an emergency for such things as back-up power, water sprinklers, etc. そうかな。。。

これは以上です。

ジョシュア

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