Walking through the streets of Osaka's Shinsaibashi district there are many of these types of signs lining the streets. This one in particular caught my interest for two reasons; 1. It's an arrow giving me information about something and 2. those two Kanji in the middle are new to me. So let's see what it says:この- kono means 'this' and is used before a noun to mean 'this ___'. 'This' can also be これ kore, which is used without the noun. It's primarily used in 何これ nani kore for 'What's this?'
先（さき）- saki has a lot of meanings, but its primary use is to mean 'ahead' and 'previous or before'.
段差（だんさ）- dansa is a noun that means 'difference in level'.
あり- ari is a short form for the polite verb form of ある aru あります arimasu which means that something physical 'exists' that is not living.
This sign is telling us, 'This ahead has a difference in level'. As I remember there was a bit of a hill leading up to the intersection, but I don't really think it was so much of a difference that constitutes the use of of sign to give me a warning. Then again it's these types of things that make Japan so great!!
それじゃあ、まったね。
ジョシュア
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