Japanese Aesthetic Preference in Signs

From May 22 to June 11, 2014, I travelled to Japan as student in CLI 3950 – Philosophies of Wellness: Holistic Healing in Japan, one of the University of Minnesota's 2014 Global Seminars. The course material gave a strong emphasis to Japanese aesthetics, and during our travels within Japan I noticed something very interesting. Signs in Japan tend to be designed not just to communicate clearly, but also to appeal to the particular aesthetic sensibility of the Japanese. This is especially apparent in comparison with signs from the United States. Whereas Americans tend to prefer direct, severe clarity, the Japanese tend to be willing to let small details remain in images and even to let physical impossibilities appear within their signs.

Comparison of Signs

In each of the following pairs of pictures, the Japanese sign is positioned on the left and the equivalent US sign on the right. This can be remembered simply by recalling that the Japanese sign is on the left because that's the side of the road that the Japanese drive on! Similarly, Americans drive on the right, so the American road signs are located on the right hand side.

No Pedestrian Crossing

Japanese Road sign 332 (No Pedestrians Crossing) MUTCD R9-3 (No Pedestrian Crossing)

In this set of pictures, notice that the man in the Japanese walk sign has a hat, sleeves, and shoes. This high level of detail, along with the red and blue color scheme, typifies the pattern in Japanese signs.

Road Work

Japan road sign 213 MUTCD CW21-1 (Road Work)

Colors are used more extensively in the US than in Japan. For example, in the US orange indicates relation to road work, yellow-green indicates relation to children, and green is used on the highways for signs for navigational aid. In Japan, however, the majority of signs are colored only with red, yellow, and/or blue. Though today we know that the primary colors are magenta, yellow, and cyan, these exact understanding only came about with science and traditionally red, yellow, and blue have been the primary colors. That the Japanese gravitate towards primary colors reflects their desire for simplicity.

School Crossing

Japan road sign 208 MUTCD_S1-1 (School Crossing)

Like the Slippery Road sign, this sign highlights massive differences between the Japanese priorities in sign-making and the priorities of Americans. The designers of the American sign have abstracted the human body into quadrilaterals and a circle. The shapes are still recognizable, but they are obviously not intended to evoke any positive emotions. Rather, they communicate that young humanoids, whom you do not know personally, may cross the street at this point. On the other hand, the Japanese sign shows the silhouette of a young boy and his still-younger sister, both walking to school with their bags in hand and feet on solid ground. The Japanese sign serves as a friendly reminder that children may be in the vicinity, gently suggesting that one ought to slow down and keep alert.

Slippery Road

Japan road sign 209 MUTCD_W8-5 (Slippery)

In the Japanese sign, notice both that the skid marks are physically impossible and also that the car is constructed almost exclusively of curves. This reflects the simple elegance that Japanese prefer, and is very reminiscent of the art style of famous Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. In the US sign, most of car's construction lines are straight and the driver is wearing a seatbelt. These are both choices made that reflect the general national priorities; the Japanese particularly value things pleasing to the eye, whereas Americans tend to be concerned only with practicality and safety.

Furthermore, we can recognize that the particular car chosen in the Japanese sign evokes nostalgia. This is because it contains sabi. Sabi is the Japanese name for beauty that comes from great age, beauty that is amplified by the rich history of the object of praise. The classic example here is given by silver. To the Japanese, silver is the most beautiful when it has a thick patina, because that is the time when the silver displays sabi. In the same way, this sign is more beautiful for depicting a rustic automobile. It reminds us of our roots and gives us peace in the middle of our busy days.

Deer Crossing

Japan road sign 214-2 MUTCD_W11-3(Deer Crossing)

Not all signs used by both the Japanese and Americans are radically different. Their respective deer crossing signs, for example, look quite similar. The most obvious difference, their facing opposite directions, is as expected when we consider that Americans and Japanese drive on opposite sides of the roads. Drivers in the US drive on the right hand side of the road, see the deer crossing sign on their right, and see a deer facing left to cross the road in front of them, whereas for the Japanese each of those left/right directions, including the direction the deer faces, must be reversed. The Road Work and School Crossing signs are similarly reversed. The slight differences in details of the deer is likely due to being modeled after different species of deer.

Make note that the Japanese are not emulating the American sign here. Rather, the detailed outline of the deer already serves the Japanese aesthetic. One can observe here the Japanese principle of wabi. Wabi is the Japanese name for that beauty which is not immediately obvious, such as the beauty of a tissue-box very well-placed within a room. More traditionally, wabi is exemplified by the Japanese tea ceremony, where despite simple surroundings and even aesthetically damaged (but still functional) utensils, great beauty can still be observed with sufficient patience. In these stark black and yellow warning signs, aesthetic perfection certainly is not the first thought to enter one's head. Upon a patient survey and quiet acceptance of the sign, however, it will indeed be observed that the sign embodies a beauty and quiet dignity all its own.

Conclusions

Yuriko Saito states in The Moral Dimension of Japanese Aesthetics that the Japanese aesthetic tradition is “ morally based by promoting respect, care, and consideration for others, both humans and non-humans.” According to Saito, Japanese have a moral obligation to fulfill when making signs, a moral obligation to make the sign pleasant to the observers. When we consider what great care was invested in the signs, the existence of a moral obligation seems more likely. If we re-examine the signs above with this in mind, it's clear that they are all designed with “respect, care, and consideration.”

Just as Japanese signs were designed under the influence of a moral obligation, so the signs tend to exert influence in the form of a moral obligation rather than explicit instruction. They expect one to obey them based on the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law. The Japanese school crossing sign helps one to recognize an environment containing children, and calls one to act appropriately given these circumstances. The US school crossing sign instead calls one to recognize a crosswalk, note whether there are pedestrians ready to cross, and then either stop or proceed accordingly. The ascetic art style alone is sufficient to decrease the ambiguity. One can conclude that Japanese people expect this indirect suggestion of a moral obligation, which stands in contrast to the general American preference for explicit imperatives without ambiguity.

Resources

  • All clickable (hyperlinked) images are in the public domain and linked to their source. Most of these images were gathered from the Wikimedia Commons (here, here, and here). Non-clickable pictures are the personal production of the author, Micah Lindström. Significant textual content was derived from course content learned in the global seminar. Literature introduced during the seminar and referred to regularly in the creation of this site include:

  • Parkes, Graham, "Japanese Aesthetics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2011 Edition), Ed. Edward N. Zalta. Stanford University, 10 Oct. 2011. Web. 23 June 2014. <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2011/entries/japanese-aesthetics/>.

  • Saito, Yuriko. "The Moral Dimension of Japanese Aesthetics." Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 65.1 (2007): 85-97. Web.