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signs

Japanese netizens confused by sign that boasts “on-the-spot change back with any cash purchase”

Finally, no more having to go on riddle-filled quests in order to get your change.

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Tree swallows sign in Japan, proves nature is hungry by continuing to eat it for 12 years

Photos of other hungry forest trees are now beginning to surface online.

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Potential cat-astrophe! Japanese park goers warned about dangers of cats and shoes, possibly

Model/celebrity finds confusing sign telling us to do, or not do, something involving small cats and big shoes.

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Osaka stops putting rainbow marks on public toilets after complaints from LGBT communities

And hopefully learns a lesson in understanding in the process.

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Enjoy the weird signs of Okinawa’s Maehara district, it’s like a city decorated in dad jokes

Swing by this lovely town and enjoy “five times bonus points” as promised by one of their signs.

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World’s most passive-aggressive restroom found in Tokyo

Pfft, a ladies’ room is going to need more than 11 signs and an audio warning on a continuous loop to keep me out.

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Japanese sign uses the power of spirits to strike fear into passers-by and stop them from littering

Forget putting the fear of God into someone; this graveside sign calls on spirits to ensure people mind their manners.

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Barely-legal bathroom signs confuse and amuse Japanese Twitter

“Why are the bathroom signs a pair of scissors and a fish?”

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Watch out for bicycling deer?! Strange traffic sign confuses and inspires Japanese Twitter

Can the internet hivemind can figure out what this sign means?

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7 surprising images of Tokyo without its billboards and neon signs 【GIFs】

If you’ve ever walked the streets of Tokyo, you’ll know how the buzz of people, street signs and giant screens can heighten all your senses and fill you with a rush of excitement that stays with you well after you’ve returned back home. While travel brochure photos can never truly prepare you for the dense onslaught of visual and aural stimuli that envelop you when you visit the megalopolis, one creative photographer has come up with a clever way of highlighting the main features of the city by showing us just how bare the city landscape looks without them there.

Come with us as we take a walk through day and night in Tokyo and see just how different the place looks when the neon signs and billboards are taken away. You’ll never see Tokyo in quite the same way again.

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Racism hits close to home in China as Beijing store reportedly “bans” Chinese customers

In the wake of the protests in the US over the controversial Ferguson decision and subsequently President Obama’s unfortunate choice of words galvanizing anti-immigration sentiments in Japan, the Chinese are facing a racism scandal of their own, but this time by their own people.

A Beijing store recently came under fire when they hung a sign outside of their shop proclaiming: “Chinese not admitted. Staff excluded.” Just so we’re clear, this is in China.

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Tinkerbell lives! Japanese company invents a way to draw in thin air with laser plasma technology

While the resurrection of Tupac and Michael Jackson were both pretty impressive, they weren’t exactly the sci-fi technology breakthroughs we’ve been waiting for since the Holodeck in Star Trek. But if you were left feeling disappointed by the beyond-the-grave spectacles, we have some hope for your technology-craving hearts!

Japanese technology company Burton Inc. recently wowed the Internet with a demonstration of a laser plasma device that enabled them to project 3-D images into the sky.

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Akihabara’s otaku: Fans of anime, idols, and… eating bananas on the toilet?

Tokyo’s Akihabara is known the world over as a haven for all things otaku. Whatever your nerdy penchant, be it J-pop princesses, moe-style hug pillows or plastic Gundam models, you’re sure to find what you’re looking for in one of the thousands of outlets surrounding the station, and the enormous UDX complex, which is home to dozens of shops, restaurants and event spaces, is arguably the most sophisticated nerd-catering venue ever built.

Like many smarter establishments, UDX’s public restrooms are kept spick-and-span pretty much all of the time, and politely worded signs ask patrons to refrain from certain types of behaviour while making use of the facilities. Until today, though, we’d never imagined that an entertainment complex would have to ask visitors not to block up their toilets with banana peels…

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What’s a kokkai anyway? Tokyo’s street signs get an English makeover

Visitors to Tokyo have often complained about the difficulty of navigating the labyrinthine capital. The numbering system isn’t in chronological order, many streets don’t have signs, and even if they do, the Roman letter translation of the Japanese can be as mystifying as the kanji characters. It’s all very well using a script foreign visitors can read, but what’s a Kokkai? And when looking for a police station would an English speaker really know to look for a Koban? It’s enough to make a visitor throw their hands up in defeat and head back to the airport.

Well, this week, as part of their preparations to make Tokyo more visitor-friendly for the Olympics, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has decreed a change to signs in the government district of Tokyo that should make a lot more sense.

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