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Tokyo Park Sign: No Practicing Golf Swing

No practicing your golf swing joins the more common no cycling, no dog waste, no fires, no littering and no picking flowers on this sign at the entrance to a park in Daikanyama. It's not surprising given the passion for golf here. On a shinkansen ride through Japan the tallest structure in many local communities is the massive net covering the golf driving range. Combined with a distinct lack of practice space - balconies in Japanese apartments are not big enough to swing a perfectly manicured chihuahua much less a golf club and golfer's desire to practice in the local park is understandable.

Other sign norms? The lack of park signs in Tehran as an indicator of where the energies of officialdom lie i.e. not regulating what people do in parks; the use of humour in this 'Beware of the Invisible Cows' sign in Hawaii; signs to support illiterate users in multi-lingual and high-illiteracy India; and severe weather warnings at a toilet entrance in Dallas.

And sign shops in Ho Chi Minh City, Kampala and Pokara Nepal.

Writing from Tokyo | January 14, 2007 | Permalink