Re: Random Japanese Signs

[kurogane]

Probably something to do with 2020 and the need to make signs multilingual.

Writing signs in katakana is considered multilingual?

I was jesting, but I know a few older people that think of it like that. Sort of. In a weird kind of way. Like it's English in English. Sort of like the way lots of FG think Romaji is normal Japanese. And some of them could easily serve on the Youth Group of the 2020 committees, being no older than 65 or so....

[Mike Oxlong]

Probably something to do with 2020 and the need to make signs multilingual.

Writing signs in katakana is considered multilingual? Whatever happened to universally understood signs like this? Hard to create in light bulbs maybe...

Japan_road_sign_311-F-L.svg (Small).png

Get down, there's a bomb

[matsuki]

Pass it where exactly?........

IMG_20130515_082958_578 (Medium).jpg

Even J-people aren't liking the Engri-mix signs:

ETCカードをわすれずに挿入しているか、という意味なのですが、「挿入ＯＫ？」ということばには、男女の関係を想像させるものがあります。

ジョニーワイズミューラーのターザン映画をおもいださせられる、日本語版ターザン英語のような、かたこと のコトバです。

「挿」という画数のおおい、視認性のわるい字をつかわずに
「ＥＴＣカード
　わすれずに！」
で いいのじゃないでしょうか。

http://torokko.sblo.jp/article/1303853.html

The more recent ones:



ETCカートOK?

OK? OK? OK? OK?

[wagyl]

Personally, I like signs which, if they need to be in words, get the message across in the least number of letters, so I can happily live with this example, but I will say that this comment made me chuckle.

「挿入ＯＫ？」ということばには、男女の関係を想像させるものがあります。

I don't think you can say that anybody of driving age can't handle "OK."

[Coligny]

Pass it where exactly?........

IMG_20130515_082958_578 (Medium).jpg

Even J-people aren't liking the Engri-mix signs:

ETCカードをわすれずに挿入しているか、という意味なのですが、「挿入ＯＫ？」ということばには、男女の関係を想像させるものがあります。

ジョニーワイズミューラーのターザン映画をおもいださせられる、日本語版ターザン英語のような、かたこと のコトバです。

「挿」という画数のおおい、視認性のわるい字をつかわずに
「ＥＴＣカード
　わすれずに！」
で いいのじゃないでしょうか。

http://torokko.sblo.jp/article/1303853.html

The more recent ones:



ETCカートOK?

OK? OK? OK? OK?

Thought it was locally understood...

image.jpg

[matsuki]

Personally, I like signs which, if they need to be in words, get the message across in the least number of letters, so I can happily live with this example

I'm in more of the "WTF, you take your ETC card out every time you exit the vehicle?!" camp.

*Even worse is the ETC card reader announcing to the world that you card is still in the reader

**How about mounting the reader in a more discreet place than the highly visibly dash...if you're so concerned with it being stolen.

***What's the worst that can happen if someone steals your ETC card? You pay cash the rest of the way and the thieves get their picture taken while using it on the highways?

[wagyl]

I would take care with that hand gesture near where you are Coligny: to Brazilians, that means "you are an arsehole" and while the Brazilians here will understand that the Japanese are just copying the Hollywood blockbuster they watched last night, they might not be so accommodating with you.

I'm in more of the "WTF, you take your ETC card out every time you exit the vehicle?!" camp.

*Even worse is the ETC card reader announcing to the world that you card is still in the reader

**How about mounting the reader in a more discreet place than the highly visibly dash...if you're so concerned with it being stolen.

***What's the worst that can happen if someone steals your ETC card? You pay cash the rest of the way and the thieves get their picture taken while using it on the highways?

I think the bigger issue is people not replacing their expired cards. I take mine out for daily use, and insert it when I am going on the expressway, mainly to avoid the beeps each time I turn the key on and off. My card reader is also mounted inside my glove box. If your card is stolen en route while you are in a Parking Area, you also have no record of which interchange you entered, which I can imagine being a bit of a headache.

Anecdote: there are some Parking Areas where you can walk between the two different road directions, and with friends we used to drive multiple cars to there, reload in a smaller number of cars, and go on to our destination. On return, we would then go to the same parking area, and split up again, walk across to the other direction and our waiting cars, and then drive on to the next exit before doubling back. This was back in the days when ETC was just a dream, but when we had overnighted at the destination, we were always stopped at the exit and questioned, to explain why the date of entry and date of exit were different over such a short distance. We had done nothing wrong and our honest explanations were always accepted, after our number plates had been recorded, but it is easy to create administrative hassle for you and for the authorities.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Personally, I like signs which, if they need to be in words, get the message across in the least number of letters, so I can happily live with this example, but I will say that this comment made me chuckle.

「挿入ＯＫ？」ということばには、男女の関係を想像させるものがあります。

I don't think you can say that anybody of driving age can't handle "OK."

I like this one even more.

ジョニーワイズミューラーのターザン映画をおもいださせられる、日本語版ターザン英語のような、かたこと のコトバです。

Why the question mark after "OK?"

[wagyl]

Why the question mark after "OK?"

Is your "insertion" OK? Please check.

[matsuki]

Tarzan English would be a million times better than Japanese Engrish..

[BigInJapan]

Why the question mark after "OK?"

Is your "insertion" OK? Please check.

Or the even simpler, "Is it in?"
Those three words along with, "Are you finished?" are probably the fastest ways a woman can deflate a guy's ego...

[yanpa]

「安全挿入実施中」

[Samurai_Jerk]

Why the question mark after "OK?"

Is your "insertion" OK? Please check.

But why is it asking?

[wagyl]

Because too many people drive through the ETC gates at over 20 Km/h with an expired card inserted or no card inserted, and the gates do not open, and they damage the gates (and based on how fragile cars are these days, and costly to repair, their car.) Either way, it holds up access to the expressway for the rest of us.

[matsuki]

Because too many people drive through the ETC gates at over 20 Km/h with an expired card inserted or no card inserted, and the gates do not open, and they damage the gates (and based on how fragile cars are these days, and costly to repair, their car.) Either way, it holds up access to the expressway for the rest of us.

Last night I saw a bike run the ETC gate....it made it through and the gate suddenly turned red and locked down. Had to swerve into the next gate or get stuck. Next gate I saw another idiot do what you just posted...but the car didn't make it through....sending the 2 vehicles behind him skidding into him. (not too hard but enough to hear the impacts from where I was)

They really should just switch to a gateless system...the scramble after the gates isn't always so fun either.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Yeah, that gated system is retarded. And by retarded I mean gay.

[wagyl]

And by gay you mean "the cause of a few people being rammed up the arse, whether they are looking for it or not."

[Russell]

A couple of years back my ETC card was not in when I passed a gate (at 50 km/h), so obviously the gate didn't open.

Those barriers are very short and made of flexible plastic, so my STPWGN made it through without damage. (as far as I could see, because it was already full of bumps and scratches)

Russell being Russell, I kept my head cool, and did not make an emergency stop, because I figured that to be too dangerous. Instead, I stopped in the next parking place, and called the highway authorities, and they asked me to drop by on the way back in the office at the gate I skipped.

There they indeed had a record of me skipping the gate, and they asked me why I didn't stop, but after explaining them why they had no problems. No fines or so, they just asked me to pay the toll fee.

These days I usually make it at 55 km/h through gates. That's about the limit...

[Wage Slave]

You should, in fairness, have had to pay for the damage to the gate. Why do you drive through them at that speed? If you drive at 20km/hr you can check the light turns green in plenty of time to stop if for some reason it stays red.

[matsuki]

I thought 40 was the limit...so 35 is what I've been aiming for.

[Wage Slave]

Maybe it is. I don't really know how fast I approach. I just make sure I can still stop before the gate until I see a green light and the thing beeps. Then I accelerate.

[wagyl]

I thought 40 was the limit...so 35 is what I've been aiming for.

ETCレーンではどの程度の速度で走ればいいのですか。

自車または先行車のETC機器、または料金所のETC設備に、万が一の不具合が生じてETCレーンの開閉バーが開かないケースに備えて、いつでも停車できる速度（20km／h以下）で通過してください。また「ETC／一般」レーンでは、先行車が料金所で一旦停車するETC非装着車の場合もあります。先行車の動きに十分注意して進入してください。

I will admit that that did take some tracking down. http://www.go-etc.jp/faq/use.html#ans05

English link: but half of the content is a graphic of text rather than text itself, so that precludes copy and pasting http://www.go-etc.jp/english/warnings/index.html

Then again, the standard in this country seems to be "add 20 to the speed limit" so maybe you are golden.

In other news, there is apparently some kind of program they are calling ETC 2.0. It appears to be an antenna for receiving information about road conditions, and will link with navigation systems to advise detours around traffic jams. Included in future plans are gateless tollpoints, from next year. If they want me to buy yet another transponder they can kiss my arse. http://www.go-etc.jp/english/etc2/service.html

[Coligny]

Maybe it is. I don't really know how fast I approach. I just make sure I can still stop before the gate until I see a green light and the thing beeps. Then I accelerate.

As usual... Signs everywhere say 20kph so as soon as the road widen for the gates access i slow down. Always a genius behind rage-overtaking... But better than having him ride my bumper through the gates...

Back in the days i installed the Note etc inside the bottom steering column plastic cover. With a separate on-off power switch. Had few " where the fuck was it already" moment when receiving the replacement cards.

On the Mitsu it's part of the whole computer system network. You can tell the navi to have it STFU. And have it give you incredibly useless stats like the total amount per periods or the number of times you passed a gate while scratching your left nut. It's moderatly viewable from outside but the glovebox have a credit card slot holder. Some have a plastic flap over the reader to hide it... A weird mix of smart and dumb.

[matsuki]

I thought 40 was the limit...so 35 is what I've been aiming for.

ETCレーンではどの程度の速度で走ればいいのですか。

自車または先行車のETC機器、または料金所のETC設備に、万が一の不具合が生じてETCレーンの開閉バーが開かないケースに備えて、いつでも停車できる速度（20km／h以下）で通過してください。また「ETC／一般」レーンでは、先行車が料金所で一旦停車するETC非装着車の場合もあります。先行車の動きに十分注意して進入してください。

I will admit that that did take some tracking down. http://www.go-etc.jp/faq/use.html#ans05

English link: but half of the content is a graphic of text rather than text itself, so that precludes copy and pasting http://www.go-etc.jp/english/warnings/index.html

Yeah, I mean actual limit, not the posted 20km/h limit.

Then again, the standard in this country seems to be "add 20 to the speed limit" so maybe you are golden.

In other news, there is apparently some kind of program they are calling ETC 2.0. It appears to be an antenna for receiving information about road conditions, and will link with navigation systems to advise detours around traffic jams. Included in future plans are gateless tollpoints, from next year. If they want me to buy yet another transponder they can kiss my arse. http://www.go-etc.jp/english/etc2/service.html

I'd totally buy a new transponder but seeing as how they already have those overhead ones that check the status of your transponder, my guess is new units won't be necessary unless you want access to the new stat features.

[wagyl]

The illustration of the new gates suggests that ETC Classic (as opposed to 2.0) will continue to have gates, and may be limited eventually to shared lanes with cash plebs. Just like back in the days when they were introducing ETC, they are getting hard ons producing spreadsheets recording how many ETC 2.0 there are out there in the wild, to show how effective their efforts to encourage their use are. Here's a hint, guys: if you, the ITS Technology Enhancement Association, really want to spread knowledge, put your text in your website as text, so that it can be searched in search engines!

[Russell]

You should, in fairness, have had to pay for the damage to the gate. Why do you drive through them at that speed? If you drive at 20km/hr you can check the light turns green in plenty of time to stop if for some reason it stays red.

There was no damage to the gate.

I think the maximum speed by which you can pass through depends on the location of the transponder.

Once I saw a truck going full speed through an ETC gate. That was about 80 km/h. Dunno how he managed, but I didn't dare to follow him.

[Grumpy Gramps]

Yappari, I find this "how fast can I get through the gate" game relatively dangerous. We have no ETC and when we get out of the manual booth, it often takes a bit of a wiggle in order not to get triturated by one of the gate-racers.

[Wage Slave]

Triturated - nice word that. Filed away and I thank you.

[Coligny]

Yappari, I find this "how fast can I get through the gate" game relatively dangerous. We have no ETC and when we get out of the manual booth, it often takes a bit of a wiggle in order not to get triturated by one of the gate-racers.

Have you tried to push the right pedal ?

Often older people tend to focus on the middle one (or left for automatic horseless carriage)...
Unless there's a farmer market on sight... Then it's game on...

[Grumpy Gramps]

Have you tried to push the right pedal ?

Hmm, now that you mention it...