Typographic Tokyo
Korean snack stand in Tokyo. Photo by Yohei Morita
My wife and I lived in Tokyo from 1992 till 1998. We spent a week here in 2000 and I am now back here for a week in 2007. It is a tantalising experience—it seems familiar in so many ways and yet subtly different, like a Star Trek teleportation that did not quite fully work!
Before, as a foreigner in Tokyo, I rarely drew as much attention as I did when I travelled outside Tokyo. This time, though, I am really struck by how many people here have grown up used to seeing foreigners. We no longer seem to be an issue. People no longer express surprise at a white person speaking Japanese—it is simply seen as the common language of communication, much as French is in Montreal.
I have been particularly struck as to how I now see signs in both Chinese and Korean. Over and over, I have been told that co-hosting the soccer world cup with Korea broke the ice between the two historic rivals. Noticeable Chinese and Korean investment in and around Tokyo may also be part of it.
I first noticed Chinese and Korean on public signs in the Roppongi subway system, Roppongi being a nightlife area which attracts many foreigners.
As I walked fom the station back to my hotel, I noticed a large spanking new skyscraper topped by the name of a Korean company.
More and more, as I travelled through Tokyo, I kept noticing the signs. In a taxi earlier today, I saw a sign for a Korean bank in a mixture of hangul (the Korean phonetic system) and Chinese kanji characters.
The above photograph gives an idea of just how cosmopolitan this world city has become since my wife and I left it nine years ago. The number of writing systems visible in the photograph is staggering:
- Building entrance in background – Japanese katakana syllabary (for foreign words), Chinese kanji characters.
- Subway entrance – (top) Chinese kanji characters and Roman alphabet, (middle) Chinese characters), (bottom) Chinese kanji numerals, Chinese kanji characters, Japanese hiragana syllabry (for native words), Arabic numerals
- Blue bank sign – Korean hangul syllabry, Chinese kanji characters.
Many sophisticated Tokyo urbanites can now, I hear, read hangul. Given their mastery of all the other systems listed, it probably is no big deal to add yet another one!
Tags: Signs, Tokyo
billyJo Aspiras says:
I got married to a korean woman and im dying to learn hangul ASAP….HELP….
March 26th, 2007 at 3:52 am