Subtle design details make the station and its passengers feel much more calm and pleasant.

If you haven’t noticed, we’re mad about Japanese design. Everywhere you go in Japan, you’re bound to come across clever design features and fine details here and there that make the everyday world just that little bit nicer and easier to navigate.

So when we came across a new series of pillars at Ginza Station, a subway station that first opened in 1934 and recently underwent renovations, we stepped closer for a more in-depth look.

▼ Ginza Station is home to three lines: The Ginza Line, Marunouchi Line, and Hibiya Line (the Yurakucho line runs at nearby Ginza-itchome Station).

Ginza is known for its high-end fashion boutiques, where even the storefronts and streets look fashionable. The new pillars at Ginza Station now match the fashionable look of the area, with on-trend colours and gradated hues.

Its easy to walk by these pillars without giving them a closer look, but it’s worth doing so, as that’s where you’ll find a clever example of thoughtful design.

▼ Hidden in the design is the letter “M“…for Marunouchi!

▼ What about the aqua green pillar?

▼ The letter “H“…for Hibiya!

▼ And the yellow-green pillar?

▼ “G” for Ginza!

By incorporating the first letter of each line into the design, the pillars pay homage to the larger encircled letter that appears along their respective routes.

While some people might turn their nose up at seemingly inconsequential design details like these, for us, these understated features are exactly what makes Japan so…Japanese.

The team behind the station revamp could’ve gone in all sorts of directions when choosing the design for these pillars, even opting to just make them plain, gradated colours. But by pushing the envelope to explore new ideas, the result is a design feature that not only makes the station feel important, it makes the people who use the station feel important too. 

And isn’t that how we’d all like to be treated by the services we use every day? When transport operators go to great lengths to make station environments feel calm and pleasant, it has a positive effect on passengers, who then treat the service with respect, even keeping one side of the stairs dry when it rains, resulting in a win-win for everyone.

Photos © SoraNews24
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