Saturday 7 April 2012

The resurrection of Manners Posters.

Today out and about in Tokyo I had reason to recall this poster - the first of the 2011 subway manners posters.  This is a cat, being a cat, being oblivious in its self indulgence.

 

A similar reminder to people not to be thoughtless in the amount of room they take up.

This  man below however is a totally different kettle of fish. He is not a self indulgent cat, or a newspaper absorbed salaryman rather he is the proverbial dog in the manger - a "wanna-be" bull terrier, but actually a totally pathetic, small minded, lame individual. 
He very intentionally edged along and spread his legs as wide as he could so Hiro couldn't sit next to me, and refused to budge.


This is the face of someone who knows
they have been a jerk.
 

 I shifted to the other side to try and take his photo with the ipad.  He is actively averting his gaze.  Note he is taking up three spaces, and note  he is one man.  I looked at him and laughed, and smiled and chuckled and wondered 



The subway posters are designed to raise awareness, working on the assumption that people would be thoughtful if they remembered to be aware; I don't think any manners sign would help him.



7 comments:

Rurousha said...

I hate it when men spread their legs as if to prove they're well-endowed. It only proves the size of their assholeness (assholity?), not any other bits. Hmph.

All the rudest train commuters I've encountered have been middle-aged men. Sense of entitlement?

I don't like the current manners posters as much as the previous series with the funny little man with the golf ball eyes. There is NOTHING cute about bad train manners, and cute animals won't help! >:(

Cecilia said...

I have asked Hiro before how to say in super polite dripping with feigned concern " excuse me but if your scrotum is so large, perhaps it would be worth consulting with a doctor, there might be a problem."

He refuses....

Mrs.N said...

Yeah..I'm learning how things are here...I try really hard to be polite but there are times when I come across this sort of situation or similar situations and my mouth gets the better of it. Menopause puts you in a "no fear" mode...lol I call a spade a spade now and many times out loud.

Theresa said...

I love that kittycat poster, never seen it before.

Cecilia said...

I tend to be blunt but very polite - and usually people are quite obliging - not always.

Theresa, this is the collection of Tokyo metro posters. I don't think anyone actually even notices them in the subways, but it's a nice historical gallery of posters.
http://scope.metrocf.or.jp/gallery/mp_gallery2011.html

Theresa said...

Cecilia, those posters are so cute. I think someone was influenced by LOLcats.

Cecilia said...

I've not seen LOLcats before - thanks for telling me about it - there are some classic photos there.