March 16, 2022

I met with my doctor at Yokosuka today. He said that my foot is healing very well. I finally took a shower without covering my foot with plastic on the past Monday. I also wore a regular shoe from Monday. There wasn’t pain, but the foot was a little tender. The doctor said that I can walk doing daily chores now and after a week or so, I can start walking long distances for exercise. That timing is good since I will go golfing on April 1.  I will seethe doctor for the last time at the and of April. I am so happy to be able to walk pain-free.

New ‘floating’ 3-D signs at this Japanese train station make you feel like you’re in a video game.

Japan is home to some of the world’s busiest train stations, and yet, somehow, the movement of passengers going towards the exits is surprisingly smooth.

One of the reasons for the smooth passage is the many signs showing people where to go. However, depending on the setup of the station, it’s not always easy to install brightly lit overhead signs to convey all the necessary information, which is why some stations are now placing signs on the floor instead.

Here at Fuchuhommachi Station, the floor signs really stand out, as they use the powers of trick art to give the messages a 3-D appearance that makes them look as if they’re floating above the floor.

The orange arrow points towards the Musashino Line, the two yellow arrows point towards the Nambu Line, with the one on the left taking you in the direction of Tachikawa, and the right taking you in the opposite direction, to Kawasaki.

The whole point of these signs is to stop commuters from making the mistake of exiting here to change lines. The bright red “Stop!” sign here does that to great effect, while the green sign behind it, which reads “Exit” in English and “This is the exit!” in Japanese, alerts commuters to the reason why they should stop and think twice before heading through the turnstiles.

East Japan Rail, who runs the station, says the new signs made their debut here in February this year. They’ve already proven to be an efficient, cost-effective way to prevent a common problem from occurring, with less mistakes made just a month after they were put in place.