Japanese symbols that speak without words

by msephton • 1 month ago

198 129 1 month ago

robocat3• 1 month ago

The common theme for the discussed symbols is consideration for others.

In New Zealand we require a yellow [L] sign on cars with learner drivers (with learners drivers licenses). However I get the impression that other drivers are less considerate around a car displaying the [L] sign.

I suspect New Zealanders are generally far less considerate than Japanese. Politeness avoids a trillion sharp edges.

We also seem to be copying some of the US predilection of arsehole Ute (pickup) drivers.

jjtheblunt• 1 month ago

Politeness avoids a trillion sharp edges.

i've never seen that before, and what a great phrase!

Also, i'm in the US and don't know why this exists, but recently see this all over.

   https://www.liftedtrucks.com

robocat3• 1 month ago

Can't visit that site from NZ. I've mostly seen kits for lifting 4WDs in NZ.

And I think the arsehole ute/pickup drivers are more of a tradie demographic.

Lifted 4WDs here seen to most commonly be private older vehicles owned by a wider cross-section of society (lifted for image/status or offroad access), and perhaps are rarely work vehicles. Think lifted 1996 rough Land Cruiser, not a showoff expensive new Ford.

ggm• 1 month ago

Also in the UK and Aus. It's bizarre that a sign saying "I'm learning, be kind" encourages some people to monster you, follow you swearing, generally hassle you.

(33 years ago, still in my memory)

It's as if they think it means HTFU and then go to hazing.

payphonefiend• 30 days ago

In Aus when you get on your P plates you instantly feel like a mad dog and aggressively overtake L platers

robocat3• 30 days ago

HTFU

I'm guessing "Harden The Fuck Up"

JimTheMan• 1 month ago

I didn't find that to the case in Australia, as someone who had L's for far longer than is standard.

Mostly it meant that people gave you a wide berth, as learner drivers are unpredictable at times. So basically, what the sign intends.

It surprises me to hear that about NZ? As I think of NZ, as our friendlier cousin.

Just goes to show that our experiences are always hyperlocalised, and it's hard to actually make generalisations without actual data.

woozlewuzzle• 30 days ago

Where abouts where you driving in Australia?

I've had the same experiences as the parent commenter when learning to drive in Sydney. In general drivers in the bigger cities seem to be very aggressive.

ebbi• 30 days ago

It surprises me to hear that about NZ? As I think of NZ, as our friendlier cousin.

Kiwi here. Our driving is, in general, absolutely atrocious.

I've driven in America, Australia, UK, Canada (also India, but let's exclude that for this purpose). Out of all these, NZ is the worst to drive in. Aggressive drivers (especially Ute/truck drivers). Drivers that shouldn't be on the road because they don't know how to drive (Toyota Aqua drivers!). People that drive totally oblivious to their surroundings. And then you have the selfish ones. They won't stay on the left-most lanes if not passing, they won't move to the left if another vehicle is behind them, and when on a single lane approaching a double lane section (overtaking lane), they will start to speed up so the cars behind them can't overtake. I think it comes down to the 'tall poppy syndrome' that Kiwis are known to have.

Never experienced this kind of driving anywhere else. Other places, the drivers would have the courtesy to move out of the way if other vehicles are behind them.

xp844• 1 month ago

That's nuts. I have seen a car in my city with a sticker that says:

  NEW DRIVER

  I'm freaking trying!!

It makes me smile every time. I honestly had a hard time when I was first learning, and especially transitioning to driving in an urban environment. I would say those streets, intersections, etc. were poorly designed, but of course, none of it was designed, urban road designs simply "happen" and people need to just improvise their way through it.

freetime27• 30 days ago

However I get the impression that other drivers are less considerate around a car displaying the [L] sign.

On a related theme - I have found when driving in the North Eastern US, when people put on their turn signal, other drivers will often speed up and close the gap rather than giving them space to merge.

hunter2_6• 30 days ago

As a northeasterner, I can explain:

In some other places, a turn signal before a lane change is an ask, to which others respond by creating more of a gap than there originally was. Here, it's not an ask but a statement that you've got enough of a gap already so you're going for it. As such, others don't find a need to react at all, which could mean the gap continues shrinking if it was already shrinking prior.

The signaler needs to have anticipated it and not signaled until this problem doesn't exist, in fact it's scary when someone signals despite this problem because the other driver is led to believe they're unseen. When there's already a lot of momentum toward closing the gap, continuing to do so is a more fuel-efficient way out of the blind spot than using the brake pedal.

Aside: turn signals that automatically flash 3 times with no reasonable way to cancel the remaining flashes when you discover a need to abort a lane change exacerbates the aforementioned scare, so I recommend disabling it.

dcrazy4• 30 days ago

There has been an explosion of “student driver” stickers here in the SF Bay Area. It’s completely voluntary, and most the vehicles appear to be driven by people in their 30s.

jagged-chisel• 30 days ago

My son waited later to get his learning permit. I’ve met folks living it cities who never got driving licenses because there was no need. Could indeed be new drivers in their 30s.

Near me, it appears to be a decal parents are adding for the benefit of their high schoolers becoming new drivers.

tjpnz• 30 days ago

Sometimes referred to as the loser plate, at least when I was growing up.

skhr0680• 30 days ago

Bullying a car displaying any of the symbols displayed in the article is a ticketable offense in Japan*

*I've never seen or heard of someone getting a ticket for merely inconsiderate driving, but it's there in the traffic law

wlonkly2• 29 days ago

I'm not sure what bullying a car entails, but does that mean you're allowed to bully cars without those symbols?

ruszki• 30 days ago

It’s funny, because I felt that drivers were the chillest in New Zealand compared to anywhere in Europe, North America or Australia. There are regional differences (for example somebody mentioned Sydney here, which is truly different than for example North from there like Brisbane, Cairns; or obviously different parts of Europe can be vastly different), but I experienced the calmest driving experience in my whole life in and around Auckland. I labeled exactly zero other people as idiots there, but my scale is probably different than locals’. I drove a lot in Eastern Europe and South Italy. Compared to those places, New Zealand is heaven regarding this aspect.

netsharc• 1 month ago

The logo expressing "Limited Express" is very unspecific, imagine if buses with the Mercedes star cost extra and didn't stop at every stop.

Interesting that a lot of US road signs have words on them: https://ygraph.com/graphs/roadsigns-20120316T030941-ekrruua.... , or are obvious, whereas in Europe drivers need to learn what they mean: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh...

For example the yield triangle, no stopping and no parking are probably unfamiliar to US drivers.

Meanwhile all Alfa Romeo Quadrofoglio drivers might be mistaken for drivers with missing limbs in Japan.

lexicality2• 1 month ago

It was very surprising for me when I visited the US to see just how much space was wasted writing everything out on every sign and sometimes in giant words on the road.

It did also make me a bit worried about the expected level of driver education...

xp844• 1 month ago

To me it's odd to imply people must be stupid because they're expected to read a few simple words such as "Left lane must turn left" rather than to memorize a bunch of symbols.

American signs very frequently combine both styles - for instance, you see the above words next to a sign with arrows for whatever lanes, wordlessly illustrating the turn types permitted.

If someone is a new driver, who hasn't seen the symbolic signs enough, the word signs are a good fallback. The goal is to maximize accessibility.

mock-possum2• 30 days ago

You have to pass a written test to get your drivers license, so yes, you are indeed expected to be able to read.

callmeal2• 28 days ago

It did also make me a bit worried about the expected level of driver education...

Not just driver, but of the general population. A few decades ago, the general reading level was at the 6th grade (thanks to the policies of Ronald Regan) and republicans think that is too high and have been working intensely to lower it. Won't be surprised if it's dropped given the "golden" opportunity of covid. I know it's only been a few years (centuries for most Americans) since Betsy DeVos was secretary of education. Remember that era?

svachalek• 1 month ago

The yield triangle is super common here (California and everywhere else I've been in the US). It's even on your image.

No parking is usually a red curb or striped out area, which is different but also nonverbal. The complication is that many places have a EULA on parking spots that reads something like "No parking, 9-5pm, except on Tuesdays and full moons, or in a yellow vehicle, or by written agreement with a minimum of two signatures not including Bob". Good luck putting that in an icon.

That "no stopping" sign is unfamiliar to me, I guess we write it out but it's a pretty rare thing here to not allow stopping.

Most of the rest is familiar and/or obvious except the ones that have German words on them. Many of the concepts in writing don't exist on the German signs, I don't know if you don't have these signs or just not listed on your chart. Some of the English ones are just tooltips; it's never ok to stop on a railroad track but someone thought a reminder would be nice.

seszett• 30 days ago

"No parking, 9-5pm, except on Tuesdays and full moons, or in a yellow vehicle, or by written agreement with a minimum of two signatures not including Bob". Good luck putting that in an icon.

I have also noticed that parking rules are usually much simpler in the EU than in the US, and maybe the format just makes it cumbersome enough to spell out abstruse rules that in the end, the rules just have to stay simple enough.

It's not totally true though because lately many cities in France have enacted complicated parking rules that are explained nowhere except on a buried page on their website that might or might not be up to date. But that's just because modern societies are straying further and further away from the rule of law with every passing day, and there is nothing that citizens can do about it.

lxgr• 1 month ago

When in doubt, I’ll take a somewhat mysterious pictogram over a written sign in a language I don’t understand.

z2• 1 month ago

Both have pretty enjoyable design language. The US signs follow colors, red for prohibition, white for rules, yellow for hazards, green for directional and blue for service. For Europe or the Vienna convention that much of the world uses, in respective order it's red for prohibition, circles for rules, triangle for hazards.

xnx• 1 month ago

And brown road signs for tourist attractions, recreational areas, and cultural or historical sites.

Symbiote7• 30 days ago

And blue for instruction, so a blue circle is something you must do.

skillina• 1 month ago

Interesting that a lot of US road signs have words on them... whereas in Europe drivers need to learn what they mean

I mean... Europe had to develop a system that works regardless of whether you speak the local language. The USA assumed every driver would speak English. I would tend to favor the European strategy, though given how we've held out on adopting the metric system I won't hold my breath.

Tor33• 30 days ago

The "Limited Express" logo existed only until the railway was privatized, if I read the article correctly. In any case I haven't noticed it, and you know when a train is a limited express - it's right there on the board announcing incoming trains (and if it's your train then you already have a limited express ticket and you know the exact time it arrives). And, finally, there's an audio announcement which says that it's a limited express. But I'll look for the logo the next time I'm at the station, it would be interesting if it's still there. I actually hope so.

nephihaha• 1 month ago

Very interesting but the comparisons are somewhat US-centric. For example, there is an equivalent to the heart and cross in some western countries which is the sunflower lanyard.

IndySun2• 1 month ago

If "drivers of private vehicles in Japan", must understand these "four symbols" then these are not "Japanese symbols that speak without words".

comradesmith2• 1 month ago

I don’t understand your comment. Can you spell it out for me?

IndySun2• 1 month ago

The article is decent, but the headline is saying something demonstrably false - evidenced by the article itself.

Not one of the symbols can possibly be understood as to its intended meaning without learning what the symbol represents - that is to say, simply by looking at any of them in no way whatsoever suggests, hints, or shows their meaning in the appropriate context.

1317• 1 month ago

P Plates, Japan

1-6• 1 month ago

I don't see anything particularly special about these symbols. Don't get me wrong, I like Japan but while these icons look nice, don't most symbols already speak without words?

xp844• 1 month ago

My reading of it is that it isn't the use of symbols that is notable, but rather here are a few handfuls of roles that symbolic decals and signs have been given in Japan, most of which we don't have in North America at least. A lot of them are quite smart. Sure, the special badge for the front of a police or fire vehicle is pretty redundant, but it would be nice if we had a universal understanding of a couple of these just as we understand what the blue handicap icon means. I would nominate the best as:

1. The cross + heart one for people with hidden disabilities. This is probably top of mind for me because I have a family member who could use some extra understanding due to a condition.

2. The new driver, elderly driver, and deaf driver. The first one is obviously so useful that we've just created dozens of one-off text decals (clearly inferior, as they have to be noticed, read, and interpreted, rather than just recognized). It should be handed to you along with your permit and made compulsory like Japan describes.

As for the elderly one, it would be useful to tip us off to give them more space, and also to inspire us to think of our grandmas when we see such a car making a mistake on the road, instead of defaulting to assuming the driver is a deliberately uncourteous prick as we sometimes do.

(As for the "if people are too old to drive correctly, we should take their licenses away" argument, let's assume it's been made, and that someone has pointed out the tradeoffs of that policy in the real world that we live in.)

Blikkentrekker• 1 month ago

There is a general culture that one sometimes sees which treats anything related to Japan as highly remarkable. Ancient Japanese swords can literally cut through diamond like butter by being folded over 1 000 times after all.

dcrazy4• 30 days ago

I always find it interesting to learn about symbols or iconography that a culture takes for granted that would be unknown or even invisible to an outsider.

Japanese heraldry is particularly captivating because of its apparent influence on corporate logo design of the 1960s. Between mon and traditional Japanese architecture, it’s eye-opening to see parallels between post-war American modernism and millennia of Japanese design.

In the spirit of this article, Cabel Sasser [1] once jokingly referred to U+1F4DB as “tofu on fire,” but eventually learned it is universally understood by Japanese people as a child’s school name tag.

[1] https://bsky.app/profile/cabel.panic.com/post/3lxusfd6f5k2c

For a non-Japanese example, it wasn’t until I visited Europe that the “fleeing man” universally used for exit signage over there would have meant anything to me. You can drop that icon into something and immediately convey danger, flight to safety, etc.

parl_match• 30 days ago

You might find the history of "American Traditional" tattooing interesting, as well.

notjosh• 30 days ago

Cabel Sasser [1] once jokingly referred to U+1F4DB as “tofu on fire”

I simply will not stand for this notjosh erasure!

(potentially the greatest contribution I'll ever make to human culture. not sure how I feel about that, now that I think about it)

bitwize2• 30 days ago

They are interesting for a variety of reasons. One of which is, while some are similar in function to, say, the "handicapped tag" that gets you pick of the best parking spaces in the United States, they are mainly enforced through social convention rather than law. This gives the symbols greater reach than laws, encouraging helpful behavior that can't be effectively legislated. Because Japanese culture is based on social harmony and mutual respect for norms, they're actually effective.

Secondly, because they are enforced by social convention, they can be very abstract which helps to reduce stigma. The aforementioned handicapped sign is clearly an abstract silhouette of a person in a wheelchair, which is very, very on the nose compared to a butterfly, clover, or heart. Similarly, the bicolor chevron indicating "new driver" (which I first encountered as a roll-up item in the Katamari Damacy series) is a whole lot less obtrusive than the "dunce cap" worn by driver-education vehicles in the USA (typically, a large sign or signs reading "STUDENT DRIVER" or similar mounted on the roof of the car). American drivers would prickle at having to have something like the "dunce cap" on their vehicles for a year after getting their license, but if it were an obvious but unobtrusive and abstract symbol like the chevron, public support for requiring the symbol on the vehicles of even newly licensed drivers (probably a good idea) would increase.

mitthrowaway2• 30 days ago

Due to a favorable exchange rate a lot of people are traveling to Japan these days, and encountering these unfamiliar symbols for the first time and perhaps wondered what they mean.

spaqin• 30 days ago

What should be viewed as more unique actually is how verbose North America is. Especially in the car part that I know of, watching car reviews online - road signs or even buttons in a vehicle that would be symbols in Europe or Asia are written out.

wodenokoto• 30 days ago

Aren't we (as an HN hivemind) always complaining that UI is removing text labels and leaving us with symbols only?

Telaneo3• 30 days ago

I remember being in some American cars and seeing quite a few buttons being labelled in plain English, while an equivalent European car would certainly have used various symbols on those buttons (think 'Fan' instead of a fan icon). I'd imagine in Europe this is done at least in large part to not have to translate all those buttons and swap them out for each market in Europe (or at least have untranslated buttons and such be reduced to a minimum). Meanwhile, an American car would have been made with an America First attitude, and adaptations pertinent to other markets wouldn't have been front of mind (it's not like this specific example would have been a problem in Canada for that matter). I haven't been in an American car in a while though, so I don't know if this trend still loves on. It's probably become irrelevant given the infotainment and such will have to be translated anyway.

zdc1• 30 days ago

Yeah. The symbols "speak without words", but no one hears their meaning without learning it in advance. They're pretty and foreign, but not particularly communicative.

aa-jv4• 30 days ago

Maybe whats special about them is that in spite of their lack of beauty they have nevertheless become widely adopted by a society very keyed toward symbolic representation, and in that context whether or not you find them beautiful is irrelevant to the broader discussion, which is that symbols are social and only perpetuate because the culture which originates them finds them aesthetically appealing, useful, and necessary to the function of that culture.

Don't get me wrong, I like Japan but while these icons look nice, don't most symbols already speak without words?

Yes? No? Whats your point? This is an interesting article about some beautiful cultural symbols. What is so wrong with you that you feel you have to degrade it?

msephton• 1 month ago

I'm a big user of the shoshinsha mark (beginner) emoji

CHUNK_CHUNK• 1 month ago

One thing I'd add: the "kuuki wo yomu" concept extends beyond symbols into everyday social cues too. A classic example is the "genkan" (entryway) — the slight step-up from outdoor to indoor floor level silently tells you where to remove your shoes, no sign needed. The whole house layout enforces the unspoken rule.

Train station melody chimes are another great example — they differ by station and line, so locals unconsciously recognize which station they're at by sound alone, without reading anything.

There are countless other forms of "reading the air" throughout Japanese daily life. I'd genuinely recommend visiting Japan once to experience it firsthand.

bitwize2• 30 days ago

If you hear a Japanese person yell "K.Y.! K.Y.!" you'd better blush, and not because they're referring to a fun-times lubricant. It stands for "kūki yomenai", literally "cannot read the atmosphere". Kind of like "Hey, read the room, asshole!"

jaredXX• 30 days ago

Pretty neat

dd-sharma2• 30 days ago

Several years back I lived in Tokyo for a couple of years. I like learning the local language. I could mostly get by with the spoken Japanese (Nihongo). Tried to learn the script but failed miserably. It's a combination of Hirgana alphabets, Katakana alphabets and to top it all 10s of thousands of Chinese Kanji. Loved my stay, very polite people. I think their vocabulary doesn't have the word impolite (polite and less polite). I would say Japanese script is one of the hardest if not hardest.

Tor33• 30 days ago

The article is not about the Japanese language, and it's not about writing systems, Kanji or otherwise.

dd-sharma2• 29 days ago

Sorry, I guess I missed the point. Looks like I got carried away by my experience.

wetwater• 30 days ago

This is a classic case of "Thing in japan". Yes 'wakaba' mark is cool. But the exact same point can be made about a big red L . Far more ubiquitous. Also there are beautiful medieval crests on British Fire engines. I doubt that purely wordless, symbolic system was truly the ultimate pinnacle of operational clarity.

quadrifoliate• 30 days ago

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!

mock-possum2• 30 days ago

I think the point is more that nobody thinks weeb content is good except for weebs.

Or, if you like, it’s still all just orientalism.

unpopularopp• 30 days ago

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 gives a fuck because it's not Japan but an eastern European country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BBabka_(convenience_store)

freetime27• 30 days ago

IMO the author kind of opened themselves up to it when they said:

And still, in my life here in the United States, words are still needed to convey meaning.

As if the US doesn’t have easily identifiable police and firefighters. Or handicap placards/license plates. Or public transportation logos (such as the NY MTA logo).

I think Japan does a pretty good job with signage in general and some of it is interesting to read about. Some things like the newbie sticker might be worth adopting elsewhere. Other things like the old people sticker might be considered age discrimination in other countries.

But framing it like only Japan knows how to use symbols or “read the air” is just dumb.

Symbiote7• 30 days ago

Yeah, these are not good symbols, except the help mark. None of them have any meaning, they must simply be learned.

I recognize some of them, from seeing them in Japan, but I thought they meant some kind of taxi.

A symbolic ear would be better to designate deafness, a walking stick age.

pegasus4• 30 days ago

these are not good symbols. None of them have any meaning, they must simply be learned.

They are excellent symbols – for the society they arose in, which was at the other extreme end to the fragmentation, atomization, and attention span erosion we are experiencing today. In their case, choosing esthetics over learning curve totally made sense, because the learning curve was not a concern for them. Our society OTOH cannot afford such niceties.

kazinator2• 29 days ago

You might think, but those symbols could also be stigmatizing. Or personally offensive.

Imagine being a 75-year-old who runs ultramarathons, having to have a walking stick on their car.

A hearing impaired person may not want to be symbolized by their less-than-well-working body part.

raldi• 30 days ago

I've never heard of a big red L but I've known about the Japanese new-driver icon for decades.

crossroadsguy• 30 days ago

These things are very local then. That big RED L is the only thing I know about new drivers, learners etc. I even googled what the GP said and I've still no clue what was being talked about.

In fact most of the symbols talked about in the article seemed of no meaning to me except looking unique and different and sometimes even nice.

Towaway69• 30 days ago

But is ‘Learner’ the japanese word for beginner? English speakers might well have an association with ‘L’, Learner and a car but other language groups might not.

Interesting to read such a colonial comment in 2026 - the British Empire is long gone.

Tor33• 30 days ago

That "L" wasn't used in my European country until recently, and when I saw it the first time I didn't really get what it was supposed to mean. I was guessing that it could be something indicating that the driver didn't have a license and was practicing with someone (something which you can do legally, if the other person is above 25 and has had a license for multiple years, and in areas which are not trafically complicated). But I was thinking it could also mean that the driver had just got the license, but that sounded strange to me as well.. having never heard about any license divisive system being introduced.

I realize I in fact still do not know what the "L" is supposed to mean, in my country.

pegasus4• 30 days ago

If all you see there is something "cool", you're missing the more rewarding depths. These symbols speak of a society which was at the other extreme end to the fragmentation, atomization, and attention span erosion we are experiencing today. This allowed them to elevate esthetics to a point we couldn't afford to today. I'm thinking here mainly of those ancient Mon[1] symbols – though something of their spirit lives on in the modern symbols also discussed in the article. Contemplating these evocative designs can help us build a bridge to a societal context that's otherwise almost incomprehensible to us.

Another thing I found fascinating: the way the symbol that marks a fire truck doesn't employ the red color we would expect in the West, and is instead based on the shape of an ice crystal. A bit like an amulet to ward evil away, there's some kind of atavistic magical function still afoot there.

[1] the wikipedia page linked from the article is worth a read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mon_(emblem)

dkdbejwi383• 30 days ago

This is just the trope of the "wise and mystical oriental"

aa-jv4• 30 days ago

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 clarity.

Agreed, but only because Brits aren't really good at designing things for longevity, whereas the Japanese are great at it.

billyoyo2• 30 days ago

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 government digital services really easy.

why is critiquing Japanese design "open misanthropy" but you're more than happy to critique British design?

walthamstow• 30 days ago

The most obvious British example is pub boards. Everyone was illiterate so they only knew pubs by the image on the board, e.g. Rose & Crown

TacticalCoder• 30 days ago

Slightly related cool one that my japanese family explained me is that 'w' was used for 'warau' (aka "lol") in online japanese speech.

And so for "laughing a lot" people would write 'wwwwwwww'.

But then 'wwwwwwwwww' looks not unlike grass.

So now to say they're laughing a lot, they're using the real kanji for grass.

We went from 'w', a romanji used as a shortcut for a japanese word, to a kanji because, visually, many 'wwwwwwww' looked somehow like grass.

It's fascinating how in Japan the approach feels more visual. I mean: we may be doing similar things with our "romanji" (roman characters, as japanese calls them) but it's less common.

Speech / ideas / words: it's really something else.

BrenBarn• 30 days ago

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 big more complex and harder to distinguish from other symbols in that system if you don't know the system. The advantage of the symbol is it's compact and can be learned without having to take on the full complexity of a linguistic writing system; the disadvantage is it has to be learned separately by everyone, even those who already know a much more powerful system (namely, writing).

There are limits to both. Obviously it wouldn't be effective to have a bumper sticker that says "This driver has been driving for less than a year, so please use caution around them"; if you lean too much on the power of writing, you make it too hard to quickly identify the meaning. On the other hand, it's not easy to come up with a wide variety of sui generis symbols and still have them be visually distinguishable at a glance, so there's also a limit to how far that approach can get you.

I do wonder whether there is some link between differential reliance on symbols of this sort and the use of alphabetic vs. nonalphabetic writing systems in different languages/cultures. Like, crudely speaking, is it the case that, because you already have to learn so many separate symbols to read Japanese, learning a few more for stuff like "elderly driver" isn't much of an extra load? Or is it the reverse, that because you have to learn so many symbols to read Japanese, they want to make these separate symbols for a small set of important meanings so people can learn them even if they don't know how to read? I'm not sure whether there's a real link here or not but it's interesting to think about.

dekdrop• 30 days ago

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

kazinator2• 29 days ago

For those who are hearing impaired, there’s the chōkaku shōgaisha hyōshiki, which is a butterfly-shaped mark in yellow and green.

They used a pictogram to convey a kanji pun (chō refers to butterfly (蝶) as well as part of the word chõkaku (聴覚), sense of hearing).

How dumb; at least the butterfly wings sort of look like ears a little bit.

Japanese symbols that speak without words

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