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Photos: Japanese Subway Etiquette Posters Offer "Manners From The Heart"
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 16, 2014
Modified Jan 16, 2014
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Metro Cultural Foundation
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 16, 2014
Modified Jan 16, 2014
Share
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Because we truly, madly, deeply care about subway etiquette in all its myriad forms, we occasionally check in on other countries to see how they are dealing with people who think there's nothing wrong with cutting toenails in public. While the French have their charming "politeness manual", the Japanese have their own series of colorful etiquette posters offering "manners from the heart."
Click through above to see the latest series from the Metro Cultural Foundation, a public works initiative of the Tokyo subway. With some help from Emily Compton and Michael McAteer, we translated the 10 posters that have gone up so far.
As for why they start in April and not January, Compton thinks it could be due to the start of the new school year and the beginning of the government's fiscal year: "Many yearly cycles in Japan seem to begin around the time the cherry trees all bloom!" Stylistically, Fast Company points out that they're reminiscent of UPA's cartoons from the 1950s and 1960s.
As good as these ones are, if the MTA is thinking about borrowing a page from them, they might want to enlist some puppy and kitten models and go with their animal-themed campaign from two years ago.
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japan
manners
metro cultural foundation
MTA
subway
subway etiquette
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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