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落書き (らくがき) - Graffiti, Scribble
は - Particle that marks the topic of the sentence
犯罪 (はんざい) - Crime, Offense
です - Particle that ends a sentence
見つけ (み) - To come across, To find
次第 (しだい) - As soon as, Immediately (upon)
警察 (けいさつ) - Police
へ - Particle for going to a place or direction
の - A particle that marks a possessive, but can also substitutes for 'が' in subordinate phrases to mark the subject of the sentence, possibly because へが is a weird sound to make
通報 (つうほう) - Report, Notify
や - Particle for 'and' in a list
法的手段 (ほうてきしゅだん) - Legal means, legal action
を - Particle that links the noun with the verb
とる事 (こと) - To take
も - Particle for also
あります - Verb that means to have or that there is
やめよう - Stop, Quit
犯罪
行為 (こうい) - Act, Conduct
兵庫県 - Hyogo Ken
中 (なか) - Middle
播磨県 - Harima Province
民 (みん) - Citizens
センータ - Center
姫路 (ひめじ) - The city of Himeji in Hyogo Prefecture
農林水産 (のうりんすいさん) - Ministry of Agriculture and Fishery
振興 (しんこう) - Promotion, Encouragement
事務所 (じむしょ) - Office
連絡先 (れんらくさき) - Contact information
Translation: Graffiti is a crime. Notify the police as soon as you come across and to also take legal action against it. Stop criminal acts! Middle Hyogo Prefecture, Harima Province citizens center. Himeji Ministry of Agriculture and Fishery Promotion Office. Contact this number.
The picture in this sign is self explanatory. A punker with a spray can spraying a red 'don't' across himself signifying 'no spray painting' also known as graffiti. Japan has a huge graffiti problem, but is also cool. The problem is the 'tags' around the city. A tag is a painted symbol that back in the day represented a gang name or a signature of the artist. Most gangs used tags to designate territory. The real graffiti artists, also known as street artists, aren't that much of a problem. I've seen some cool manga style graffiti and classic giant letter style graffiti that you might find in America or Europe. You don't find much of the Bansky or Shepard Fairey style of political, thought provoking stencil cut outs around the city, or not in Osaka, Tokyo might be a different story.
In the part of Himeji I found this sign, there was a long concrete wall separating the sea and the beach from the houses and buildings on the other side. Prime real estate for the graffiti artist, although an easy target. Graffiti artists like to show off not just their ability to express themselves with spray paint, but also their ability to get to hard to get to places; on the under side of bridges, on the top of buildings, on the top of billboards, behind, across and wherever they can reach. It's a lifestyle.
I'm not condemning it, I like Bansky, Fairey and other creative street art. When I lived in Yokkaichi an American style bar open up and the owner paid a famous Tokyo graffiti artist to come and paint the whole building, inside and out. He painted popular movie stars and New York scenery and one wall even had the Grand Canyon. It was pretty cool. What I don't like are tags. Tags are equivalent to people throwing their garbage on the street, except a lot harder to clean up. It's not pretty or artistic. It's ugly, it's trash, it's bathroom art. You're not making a point or being edgy. You're not contributing anything when you tag a sign or electrical box. You're creating eyesores around the community and causing governments to spend our tax dollars to clean it up instead of returning it back to me where it belongs. So please, やめよう！I need a new cell phone.
以上です。
ジョシュア
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