Public signs in Japan use a mix of

• kanji (Chinese characters) and
• the two syllabaries, hiragana and katakana.

The differences are:

• Hiragana has softer, rounded strokes
• Katakana has sharp, angular shapes

Katakana used for:

• primarily for foreign loanwords (like camera → カメラ),
• foreign names, scientific terms (plants/animals), onomatopoeia (sound words), and for emphasis (like italics),
• appearing on menus, ads, in manga, and for stylistic reasons, often mixed with Hiragana and Kanji.

A yellow-and-black diagonal reflective sleeve wrapped around a utility pole, attached with metal or plastic bands/wires.

It is installed partway up the pole, does not reach the ground, and may be partially open or fully cylindrical.

Type: Private

Shape: Short

Background: Green or white

Text: White or green

White metal guardrails - usually Type-A

Shape: Cylinder with one or two reflectors on top

Color: White

Material: Metall

Reflector: Attached metallic construction on the top with circle and sometimes another circle little bit below on the another side. Reflector circle has metallic border. Orange or white colors

Others: May be black or include extra attachments (white-and-red poles on top) and kanji symbols

A yellow-and-black vertical reflective sleeve wrapped around a utility pole, attached with metal or plastic bands/wires.

It is installed partway up the pole, does not reach the ground, and may be partially open or fully cylindrical.

A blue pentagon showing two children crossing is used to mark school zones and pedestrian crossings

Japan’s stop sign is a red upside-down triangle with the kanji ‘止まれ’ (tomare)

On rural and mountain roads, you’ll often see concrete retaining walls with interlocking block patterns

A grey-and-white

• diagonal or
• vertical

reflective sleeve wrapped around a utility pole, attached with metal or plastic bands/wires.

It is installed partway up the pole, does not reach the ground, and may be partially open or fully cylindrical.

A green-and-white diagonal reflective sleeve wrapped around a utility pole, attached with metal or plastic bands/wires.

It is installed partway up the pole, does not reach the ground, and may be partially open or fully cylindrical.

Driving direction: Left Side

Type: Commercial, Kei cars (small cars)

Shape: Short

Background: Yellow

Text: Black

Roadside utility poles are round concrete columns with spiral grooves.

They often have:

• metal ID white plates
• guy wires
• small reflectors

Bright orange-rimmed convex mirrors are placed at junctions and blind bends

In Japan, Street View images are taken by a black or white Google car.

Sometimes you’ll see it in black, and occasionally it may even have an antenna.