Baud Attitude

While I was on my quest to find Studio Ghibli, I passed lots of neat “Only in Japan…” sorts of things. Here are some of them.

First, the 24 hour NPC. In the land of the console RPG, I can’t believe that this name for an self-service parking lot is entirely coincidental.

Speaking of parking, here’s an inventive way to maximize use of space: double-decker bike parking.

I kept seeing cars roaming the Koganei streets with the logo of a driver training school plastered all over them. When I accidentally wandered on to the premises of the school, I got to see this display of cautionary road signs:

Some of these make perfect sense. Some do not. The one in the upper left could be “Beware of marching bands.” The one in the upper right sort of looks like a stylized ram’s head… “Watch out for aggressive sheep”, maybe?

They’re mysteries to me.

THIS is a help-wanted sign.  Not for a maid cafe, or a nekomimi massage parlor, or anything of the sort - it’s for a serious package delivery service.  I’ve seen plenty of their trucks around Tokyo, and the drivers are generally stoic-looking older guys.  This sign makes me wonder about them a little bit:

No “Hey look at those wacky Japanese” post would be complete without some vending machines.

Here’s one where you can buy 10kg bags of rice:

And this one was set up in front of one of the neighborhood farms near Studio Ghibli, just in case you need a quick produce fix:

Lastly, if you ever need to take the family cat in for a tune-up, why not take it to a General Pet Service Station?

I needed an excuse to put some of these up - thanks for humoring me.