Emergency Number for Children

Children are on their own a lot here. They walk to and from school and after-school activities. If they run into trouble they should call 110. This was posted at a family restaurant entrance in our area. It could be seen from the inside and outside of the restaurant.

Damage Control

At our house, the March 11th earthquake was about a 6 on the Japanese scale. We were very lucky that we didn't have any damage and no one was hurt. There are a few things sitting around that could have fallen, but they didn't. We have a few things around the house that prevent earthquake damage.

Like this. It looks like a plain kitchen cabinet handle.

But you have to pull it to open the cabinet. That makes our kitchen cabinets earthquake proof. Many dishes break when cabinets open during earthquakes. Broken glass is dangerous.

Falling furniture is another danger. We put these tabs under the video cabinets and book cases and televisions.


We also put these braces on tall pieces of furniture. That's Little Brother's desk that has built-in book shelves. A sliding glass door kept the books from falling out of the shelves.

Kids' Phone

It looks like a regular phone.

But pull that gray loop and an alarm goes off. It's a safety feature for kids. This is Little Brother's phone. He takes it with him when he goes to someone's house to play after school. He can't take it to school.

Scaffolding Safety

This is scaffolding on a building. It is right in the middle of the sidewalk. Workers wrapped some of the poles in foam so that people walking by wouldn't get hurt if they bumped into them. They also put up cones and bars so that people won't walk under the scaffolding.

Note the yellow strip along the middle of the sidewalk. That is a guide for blind people. Click on the label "disability" below to find out more about it.

Emergency Sign

Click to enlarge. Do you know why there is a catfish on this sign? It's there to catch your eye, but did you know that catfish are sensitive to earthquakes? They start acting strangely before the earth starts to shake. In the past, I have seen tanks of catfish in some subway stations. I haven't seen one in a long time. I'll be on the lookout. Hopefully, I'll have the camera with me.

Don't Try This at Home!

These junior high guys were riding along the train tracks. They were heading toward the station area. How do I know they were in junior high? They were wearing uniforms. (Not all students wear uniforms here.) Note that they are not wearing helmets. People don't wear them here. Click to enlarge.

I wonder what happened when they passed the police box. There is one near this station. Mothers can carry their children in child seats on their bicycles, but riding two to a bicycle like this isn't permitted. It's dangerous.

Street Mirrors

Some streets here are very narrow. Only one car at a time can go down some of them. There are mirrors that drivers and bike riders can check to see if someone is coming from another direction.

Soba Shop

Detail of another soba shop down the hill (below the temple). That yellow sign tells children that it is a "safe house". If they're lost or having trouble with strangers, they can go there. Shops and homes display those signs.

Click on the picture and you can see more detail. There is a scale on the counter to weigh soba.

Kid Alarm

Most kids in Japan walk to school or to a station or bus stop. Our local schools sold these kid alarms several years ago. Students attach them to their randoseru , school bag, or pants loop. (Click on the label "school" to see the April posting and picture of the school bag.)

When needed, the kid grabs the alarm and pulls. A very loud alarm sounds.

Tsunami Warning

There was an earthquake in northern Japan. There was a tsunami warning for the eastern coastline. When there is a tsunami warning, the national television stations broadcast information. They put a map on the screen and highlight the dangerous areas. This picture was taken before the highlighting came on. The area in the north eventually had a red line along the coast. The rest of the map had a yellow line along the eastern coastline.

There are now many cable or satellite stations in Japan. During the tsunami warning today, they posted this symbol in the upper lefthand corner of the screen. It looks like black waves in a yellow box. That symbol tells viewers to check the national stations for information concerning the tsunami warning. There was a tsunami and an evacuation. The tsunami was about 10 cm in most areas.

Emergency Button at a Train Crossing

Click on the picture to enlarge it. Can you see the sign with the red arrow? Because of the angle it looks like it is in front of the train. The arrow is pointing to an emergency button. The emergency button is on the other side of the narrow street. There is an arrow next to the emergency button. It is pointing the other way. Arrows light up to tell which direction the train is coming. This is a very small neighborhood train crossing. Note how close the train is to the apartment building on the right!

This is the sign pointing to the emergency button.

This is the emergency button. This sign says to lift up the cover and push the button when there is an emergency. The cover is actually a thick piece of plastic that you slide over.

Emergency Button on a Train Platform

This is an emergency button on the platform of the train station. The yellow sign with the red stripes to the right is written in English and Japanese. The button is not directly under the sign.

The red button is the one to push to alert train station employees. The others are for their use.

The Japanese can be translated as "Emergency Call Button".

Tsunami Warning Map

You may have heard about the big earthquake off the Kuril Islands in Northern Japan on the evening of the 15th. There was a tsunami warning. On the local Japanese channels, there was a map in the corner of the TV screen. The danger zones were highlighted. Red areas were in high danger. People were evacuated from areas in Hokkaido(marked in the red).

It was strange to go through the channels and see the different shows in the background of this flashing warning. Regular shows and commercials continued. Some of the shows were comedies. This was a news program. The warning has been downgraded. The map has disappeared from TV screens.

Junior High Fall Festival

Junior high schools have fall festivals to show their work. Parents visit. It is like an "open
house. " Sixth graders from elementary schools and their parents visit the festivals, too. After elementary school, students must choose a junior high school. They visit during festival time to see if they like the school.

Here is the shoe cabinet at the entrance. (You may remember seeing the photo of the shoe shelves at the elementary school.) These shelves are filled with students' street shoes. They put on sneakers that are worn only inside the school. Sorry, this is not a very good picture!

Visitors must take off their shoes and put on slippers that they have brought from home. Usually visitors carry their street shoes in a plastic bag at crowded events. There's not much shelf room for visitors' street shoes.

This is a sink in the courtyard outside the entrance. Students can wash their hands here.



Outside the office, there was this metal box with a sign that read "AED Automatic External Defibrillator". It is a device to help people who are having a heart attack. I have posted a picture of one in a train station and one at a highway rest stop. Putting these devices in public places is new. Over the 18 years I have been here, ambulances didn't have these devices.



The wooden and glass case is a "lost and found" on one of the floors of the school. It looks like there are a couple of bags and some clothes in it.



Rooms were set up with students' work. This is the art room.


I went to the music room to listen to the choir. They sang several songs. They sang one in English that you may know, "Hail Holy Queen." You may have sung it or heard it at church or heard it in a movie called "Sister Act." I was surprised the teacher chose this song. Papa told me the song is very popular with choirs and singing groups. It is often sung in school choir performances. These junior high students did a really good job. They had good pronunciation and were very lively.