Friday, June 22, 2012

Finding the right words can be hard.

Through a series of unusual events I am in the midst of six straight weeks of traveling.  It began with a trip to Yellowstone, followed by a few weeks in Japan, a quick stop in Hawaii, followed by an extended stay in Williamsburg (Virginia), visits to D.C., and will culminate in an Independence Day trip to Glacier National Park with my folks (Eve: please come too).  In between trips I return home for 24 hours to do laundry, pay bills, and open my mail.  Sometimes I even sleep a little.  The period will end on July 8 and I'll be done with airplanes, hotel rooms, rental cars, jet lag, and eating out for awhile.  However, I will be missing all the family and friends I visited.

All of this is just a way to explain the content of this post.  While in Japan I traveled with my brother and his family south of Tokyo to Kyoto and Hiroshima.  There were some beautiful, deeply moving parts of this trip, but I also started a small collection of signs translated into funny English.  Please excuse the potty humor, but there seemed to be an unusual amount of signage in Japanese bathrooms.
More signs should be written like this--it tells me exactly what I need to know.
The sign led us to a tram, which took us up Mount Misen, which apparently has very pretty views from the top.
"View from Misen where the same expression isn't shown." 
My nephew enjoying that day's "expression" from the top with a pair of binoculars.
This is my favorite!  It is the "Satellite Lover's Sanctuary" where two people can light a flame together.
The sanctuary shares a room with a cafe where lovers can make sweet bean cakes and buy ice cream.  
Here is the sign for the Sanctuary.  I enjoyed lighting my "Fire of Oath" with my niece.
Some train cars are designated for women only, especially late at night, for their safety.
This is sign in on the train platform.

I so wish I knew how to do this.  I would love to comply.
These instructions are actually very useful.  I used a few squatters facing the wrong direction until I read this sign.  When I read this sign I realized why the toilet paper was so difficult to reach.
This is to prove I saw more interesting things than just the bathrooms in Japan.






3 comments:

Jacque said...

Good to have you back! I missed your posts.

Miss Wesel said...

Rach! This is not like you. I am so surprised by the pictures, in a good way of course. I also liked the call out to Eve, in a last ditch effort to get her to come on the trip with you.

Unknown said...

Allie--glad I can still occasionally surprise you. How long do you think it will be before Eve reads it? :)