THEODORUS JONATHAN WIJAYA ウィジャヤテオドルスジョナタン 交通信号灯 TRAFFIC LIGHT THEODORUS JONATHAN WIJAYA ウィジャヤテオドルスジョナタン

I found that even there is not any car on the street, people would still standing on their feet to wait the pedestrian light to change from red. The nice thing I found was that actually, the color of the pedestrian crossing sign is not really green (at least to me), it is more into blue. Take a look at these pictures. The above one is Japanese pedestrian light and below is American pedestrian light. Now you can see what I meant. The hue of the green is pretty indistinguishable with our bare eyes. In the “ Traffic Safety Guidelines for Pedestrians and Cyclists”, an official document written bilingually by the National Police Agency, it is said that “green light” indicates that “pedestrians can proceed to cross the street” but the Japanese counterpart stated 青色の灯火 (あおいろのとうか, the blue-colored light). It opens my eyes into other words:  青葉 (あおば, blue leaves), 青芝 (あおしば, blue lawns) and 青りんご (blue apples),  青二才 (あおにさい, lit. “blue 2-year-old”), the well-known Tokyo upper-class district called 青山 (あおやま, blue mountain). Surprisingly, the first traffic light set up at Hibiya Crossing in 1930 was 緑色 (みどりい ろ) but as language evolves, people started to call it 青 rather than 緑. This color nomenclature turns out to be greatly affected by primary colors in Japanese painting which are red, blue, and yellow. Hence, blue joins to the traffic light group. Pedestrian light in Japan Pedestrian light in USA

Government also obeys the international convention about pedestrian light which commands “go” sign in green color. But they decided to use the “bluest” possible hue of the green. I believe this could only happen if the government wants to preserve local values and appreciate nation’s custom more than a rigid law. The government is not eager to change the use of 青 to 緑 because they value it more. The government could adapt itself to the international law by not changing local values. This case can support how important history, culture, and national values to Japanese.

Reference http://insight.japantoday.com/blue-apples-blue-traffic-lights-japanese- color-perception/ http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2013/02/25/language/the-japanese- traffic-light-blues-stop-on-red-go-on-what/