I saw this sign around the JR station in Nagoya. It's a smoking fish（魚） warning us of the dangers caused by smoking in front of 'No Smoking' signs.The large（大きな） Kanji （漢字） to the right（右） reads:
違反者（いはんしゃ） - 'ihansha' which means 'Violator', 違反 means 'violation of law' and 者 means 'person'.
は - read as 'wa' marks the main subject of the sentence.
過料（かりょう） - 'karyou' means 'non-penal fine or correctional fine'.
２，０００円 （えん）- 'en' or commonly referred to in the West as the Yen is the currency of Japan. This Kanji, 円, also means 'circle' referring to a time when all of Japan's money were round coins.
Exchange rate for Dollar to Yen is roughly $1=100円. So 2,000 Yen is about 20 Dollars.
Translation: "Violators will be fined 2,000 yen."
On the left（下） side of the this sign next to the 'No Smoking' sign is the sentence:
路上禁煙は、大人の常識
路上（ろじょう）- 'rojou' means 'on the road' either standing or walking.
禁煙（きんえん）- 'kinen' is the Japanese phrase for 'No Smoking'.
は、- Here is our subject particle.
大人（おとな）- 'otona' means 'adult' which refers to a person 20 years or older.
の - 'no' is a possessive particle, but when we see 大人の together the translation becomes 'grown-up'.
常識（じょうしき）- 'joushiki' means 'common sense'.
Translation: "No smoking on the road is grown-up common sense."
Alright, so there you have it. If you get caught smoking on the street in places that are non-smoking you can be fined. This sign was posted near the doors around a busy area that crosses the JR station over to the Meitetsu station so I can understand that if people are standing around smoking in this area it could jam up the commuter flow going in and out of the stations.
それじゃ、楽しかったね！またすぐ。
ジョシュア
No comments:
Post a Comment