Juergen Specht is a German photographer living in Japan, and and the first of his many Documentation collections (The Naked Festival of Chiba, Ice Sculptures at the Meiji Shrine, The Homeless of Ueno) is a collection of graphical Japanese warning and prohibition signs. They're not all that different, besides the fact that they usually feature much more involved graphics than our warning signs, but I thought the following were rather interesting:
- A more than grapical anti-fire sign.
- Only pedestrians, and specifically not this kind of transport.
- Who knew they had such a problem with fake fire extinguisher repairmen?
- Prohibition signs shouldn't make the prohibited activity look so comfy.
- Wild Boars! And get in a cage with one!
- Don't enter because Aliens live here?
- Fun anti-smoking sign.
- Via haunting? For vengeance? Creepiest recycling sign ever.
- And this one reminded me of upperclassmen's tall tales of urns filled with gullible freshman.
Generally speaking, I think these more graphical signs are spot on. Warning signs are particularly necessary for children, and I sometimes wonder if our very abstract graphics aren't enough to capture their attention.
