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Why do some of the manhole covers have English, not Japanese, text on them?
[1] "we clearly don't"
If they are too beautiful people might walk away with them.
While it occasionally happens, in Japan they still have a sense of civic responsibility. They wouldn't do that. There's also the fact that you could (statistically) also forget your Macbook Pro in a crowded public park in Tokyo and come back 2 hours later to find it there untouched (and unstolen).
Why do some of the manhole covers have English, not Japanese, text on them?
Maybe to fit in better with the surrounding neighborhood? There's a lot of English on signs in Tokyo; in part because foreign cultures are cool, and in part because it's friendlier to tourists. (They also have the Olympics coming up in 2020.)
Aaah, atlasobscura, where every time I visit I get: "We value your privacy[1]" with one button saying "accept!". [1] "we clearly don't"
Earlier quoted context omitted.
While it occasionally happens, in Japan they still have a sense of civic responsibility. They wouldn't do that. There's also the fact that you could (statistically) also forget your Macbook Pro in a crowded public park in Tokyo and come back 2 hours later to find it there untouched (and unstolen).
Wow. Was this ever (anecdotally) tested?
Recently Pierre Taki was arrested for Cocaine, and the manhole with him on it is in an interesting debate, the town is thinking about covering it: https://news.nicovideo.jp/watch/nw4980896
Earlier quoted context omitted.
While it occasionally happens, in Japan they still have a sense of civic responsibility. They wouldn't do that. There's also the fact that you could (statistically) also forget your Macbook Pro in a crowded public park in Tokyo and come back 2 hours later to find it there untouched (and unstolen).
Wow. Was this ever (anecdotally) tested?
My friend lost her passport in Kyoto, it turned up at the lost and found. Peering in through the window they had a little bit of everything, and roughly a million umbrellas.
Why do some of the manhole covers have English, not Japanese, text on them?
They use English as window dressing because it’s cool. Most Japanese kids will take English in school, but few will ever attain any real fluency in the language. So if you sprinkle in some gratuitous English into your signage, clothing and television scripts or character designs, then you are cool, and you can still effectively communicate to some degree because while almost no one is fluent, they can still understand at least small amounts of English at a time. I’m not sure that still holds up with younger generations, but at least at one point it was the case.