Japanese symbols that speak without words • Hacker News Board

Re: Japanese symbols that speak without words

#111

Post by murderfs » Tue, Jun 23, 2026, 9:06 AM UTC

unpopularopp wrote: post #95

quadrifoliate wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to read your article about the beautiful medieval crests on British fire engines, too! No joke, feel free to link something in reply to my comment as well if you have existing articles. I feel like there has been a lot of unnecessary pushback about 'Thing in Japan' articles on the internet. Guess what, there are cool things everywhere; including Japan. Write about the ones you know about!

>I feel like there has been a lot of unnecessary pushback about 'Thing in Japan' articles on the internet. Guess what, there are cool things everywhere; including Japan. That's the point of the whole meme. People think it's interesting because of Japan not because of the content itself is interesting. Did you know there are 12,000 Zabka stores in Poland and they are almost as ubiquitous as konbinis? Guess what, no gi…

There are over 12,000 7/11s in the United States, and probably hundreds of thousands of competitors (certainly if you include gas station stores). The thing that's different about Japanese convenience stores is that, 24/7, they sell food that's incredibly high quality compared to what you can get in American convenience stores at extremely low prices, and that doesn't seem to be the case for Zabka?

Re: Japanese symbols that speak without words

#112

Post by pegasus » Tue, Jun 23, 2026, 9:12 AM UTC

billyoyo wrote: post #108

aa-jv wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a classic case of "open misanthropy". People can love the Japanese for their unique characteristics and they can love the Japanese for the things they appropriated from other cultures. Just like the British. Fact is though, in many ways, Japanese culture is a lot more caring, considerate and kind than the British. >I doubt that purely wordless, symbolic system was truly the ultimate pinnacle of operational cl…

This seems rather blatantly anti-british? Feels like you're taking your point too far the other way. How exactly is Britain not a country good at designing things for longevity? It is probably amongst the countries in the world that goes to the most effort to protect its architectural history, and also has some world class modern design schools. The government also has a unified design system that makes using governm…

I would agree, having visited GB a few times in the past, one thing that is apparent is how solid things are built. Mailboxes, yellow cabs, medieval cathedrals.

Re: Japanese symbols that speak without words

#113

Post by dekdrop » Tue, Jun 23, 2026, 9:14 AM UTC

BrenBarn wrote: post #63

I think the fact that these symbols are "not words" is not in itself super earth-shattering. What really matters is whether they have to be learned like words. You could learn the words "New Driver" as a single "symbol", or you could learn the beginner symbol. The advantage of a verbal label is you can understand it without learning it, if you know the system its embdded in (i.e., English); its disadvantage is it's a…

The way "New Driver" hits brain is different than a symbol. Wordings develops much more rational impression of it.

Re: Japanese symbols that speak without words

#114

Post by streetfighter64 » Tue, Jun 23, 2026, 9:16 AM UTC

freetime2 wrote: post #92

mendigou wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The slower car should signal the moment they decide they need to merge into the lane, then wait for an appropriate gap.

The Massachusetts handbook [1] says: > Use your rearview mirror, check your blind spots, and use your directional signals when changing lanes. Remember these three steps: (1) look, (2) signal, (3) move To me this means you don't signal until it's actually safe to merge. E.g. if a car is passing me at high speed, I wouldn't turn on my signal until after they had passed. If I did it before they pass, they might think m…

Flashing your hazards to thank somebody isn't something I've even seen officially recommended and I see it more as a nuisance in most cases. The communication can't really be unambiguously understood as a "thanks", especially not if you do it for more than one flash.

It's something I personally do about once in a hundred passes if I think somebody really went out of their way to accommodate me, but even then I realize it's detracting from road safety in several ways, such as reaching over to the often awkwardly placed button, and perhaps confusing other drivers.

But I suppose it's a cultural thing, I've heard that in India it's common to use the horn to notify other drivers of your presence even though there's no imminent danger. Which is something that in most other countries would be seen as obnoxious.

Re: Japanese symbols that speak without words

#115

Post by aa-jv » Tue, Jun 23, 2026, 9:17 AM UTC

latexr wrote: post #109

aa-jv wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, I mean this seriously: you might be a racist misanthrope.

Those terms seem incompatible. Either you’re a racist and hate certain slices of humanity or you’re a misanthrope and hate all of it. Doesn’t make much sense to hate all and part of it. What exactly did you mean?

[flagged]

Re: Japanese symbols that speak without words

#116

Post by aa-jv » Tue, Jun 23, 2026, 9:19 AM UTC

billyoyo wrote: post #108

aa-jv wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a classic case of "open misanthropy". People can love the Japanese for their unique characteristics and they can love the Japanese for the things they appropriated from other cultures. Just like the British. Fact is though, in many ways, Japanese culture is a lot more caring, considerate and kind than the British. >I doubt that purely wordless, symbolic system was truly the ultimate pinnacle of operational cl…

This seems rather blatantly anti-british? Feels like you're taking your point too far the other way. How exactly is Britain not a country good at designing things for longevity? It is probably amongst the countries in the world that goes to the most effort to protect its architectural history, and also has some world class modern design schools. The government also has a unified design system that makes using governm…

Its only necessary to point out that the British are the worlds' masters at cultural appropriation and, as well, cultural degradation ... Curry, Reggae, Tea ... Near endless supply of degraded colonies, reaped economies, ruined cultures deemed inferior by the British ruling class .. and this "its not cool, its just Japanese" refrain sure does align with that imperialist view ...

Re: Japanese symbols that speak without words

#117

Post by streetfighter64 » Tue, Jun 23, 2026, 9:25 AM UTC

klausa wrote: post #72

hunter2_ wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How do you handle an upcoming left turn (assuming right hand driving) during heavy traffic? If I am in the middle lane (lane 2), and I realize I need to get into the leftmost lane (lane 1) to make a turn, but lane 1 is too full for me to simply move into it without affecting others, then I would have no choice but to cut someone off. I would minimize the effect in two ways: by trying to cut off whoever has left the…

>If I am in the middle lane (lane 2), and I realize I need to get into the leftmost lane (lane 1) to make a turn, but lane 1 is too full for me to simply move into it without affecting others, then I would have no choice but to cut someone off. ...you could just miss your turn, instead of cutting someone off?

I'm not exactly well-versed in the term "cutting someone off", perhaps it implies dangerously moving in front of somebody, in which case, obviously it shouldn't be done. But often people are unwilling to slow down to open a gap to let somebody "cut them off", even when it's perfectly safe to do so (low speeds and low speed differences).

By slowing down to let somebody in front of you, you prevent them from missing their turn at practically no cost to yourself. But there's this psychological need to be "first" among many drivers, that also causes other irrational behaviors.

It's not uncommon to see drivers keep way too little distance to the cars in front and pass quite aggressively, only for us to end up next to each other at the next red light anyway. All their wasted gas and lowered safety margins got them was arriving at the light 2 seconds earlier.

Re: Japanese symbols that speak without words

#118

Post by Symbiote » Tue, Jun 23, 2026, 9:30 AM UTC

murderfs wrote: post #111

unpopularopp wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I feel like there has been a lot of unnecessary pushback about 'Thing in Japan' articles on the internet. Guess what, there are cool things everywhere; including Japan. That's the point of the whole meme. People think it's interesting because of Japan not because of the content itself is interesting. Did you know there are 12,000 Zabka stores in Poland and they are almost as ubiquitous as konbinis? Guess what, no gi…

There are over 12,000 7/11s in the United States, and probably hundreds of thousands of competitors (certainly if you include gas station stores). The thing that's different about Japanese convenience stores is that, 24/7, they sell food that's incredibly high quality compared to what you can get in American convenience stores at extremely low prices, and that doesn't seem to be the case for Zabka?

I think what stands out is that American 7/11s sell particularly low quality food.

Americans focus on Japan, but they could make the same comparison with many other countries.

Maybe because it's OK to be worse than Japan (it's Japan! The orient! The mystery!) but embarrassing to be worse than Poland.

Re: Japanese symbols that speak without words

#119

Post by latexr » Tue, Jun 23, 2026, 9:40 AM UTC

aa-jv wrote: post #115

latexr wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those terms seem incompatible. Either you’re a racist and hate certain slices of humanity or you’re a misanthrope and hate all of it. Doesn’t make much sense to hate all and part of it. What exactly did you mean?

[flagged]

Perhaps don’t question people’s education when you know nothing about them and are yourself unable to communicate properly and understand a question. A “racist and a misanthrope” is not the same thing as a “racist misanthrope” (and again, those overlap and are thus nonsensical together). Or don’t you understand how being a “fast cook” differs from being “fast and a cook”?

You are being incredibly rude and accusatory to multiple people without provocation and should consider revising your HN bio. Aside from it not following proper writing structure and being little more than a jumble of words akin to what one would see on Facebook over a picture of a sunset, you’re behaving like the opposite of what it proffers.

Re: Japanese symbols that speak without words

#120

Post by kalleboo » Tue, Jun 23, 2026, 9:45 AM UTC

murderfs wrote: post #111

unpopularopp wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I feel like there has been a lot of unnecessary pushback about 'Thing in Japan' articles on the internet. Guess what, there are cool things everywhere; including Japan. That's the point of the whole meme. People think it's interesting because of Japan not because of the content itself is interesting. Did you know there are 12,000 Zabka stores in Poland and they are almost as ubiquitous as konbinis? Guess what, no gi…

There are over 12,000 7/11s in the United States, and probably hundreds of thousands of competitors (certainly if you include gas station stores). The thing that's different about Japanese convenience stores is that, 24/7, they sell food that's incredibly high quality compared to what you can get in American convenience stores at extremely low prices, and that doesn't seem to be the case for Zabka?

And you do see a bunch of articles and videos online about Buc-ee's