Yokohama: funny signs in Japan

I don’t often post pictures of funny signs in Japan, as it seems a bit cheeky when I speak about 20 words of Japanese myself, but the juxtaposition of this set of three signs made me smile. They contain vital advice as I hope you will agree.

The rules are try not to make a noise, stop playing with fireworks and do not climb over the fence.

This is from a walk I have often taken in Yokohama, around the city’s sights and up to Motomachi Park on the hill, close to the Yokohama Foreign Cemetery. The Motomachi shopping district is just down the way, so it makes for a good stroll around. The views across the city and down to the bay from the park are magnificent, but it is best not to get carried away with fireworks or noise. Climbing over the fence could result in a drop of quite a decent height, so if you do follow those rough directions, make sure you obey the rules as well.

While I am mostly happy in Tokyo, Yokohama is a city I could also see myself living in – close to the water, perhaps a little more relaxed than Tokyo while close enough for easy visits and also with that historical foreign influence befitting one of the first places to open up to foreign trading in the Meiji Era. It is the hometown of Yuki in The Easy Life in Kamusari, the big city he dreams of getting back to from what he originally sees as his exile to the forests. Down by the bay are the Red Brick Warehouses, which always remind me of Liverpool’s Albert Dock. It is nice to find these small traces of my other home as I wander and be reminded that all port cities share a similar DNA. I am not sure that the funny signs in Japan would be as well observed in Liverpool though!