HOME | DD

Description
Back in college we previewed a lot of children's books and young adult books for English education. One cool book I believe was called ABC NYC, where a photographer went around NYC and took pictures of the alphabet as it appeared on signs, on the street, etc. After seeing that book, I always thought that it would be cool to do something like that with Japanese. With a little motivation from you lovely dA people I finally got around to it. For the past week I've been hunting around for hiragana in Iida and came up with this...

While there are a lot of imperfections and I don't recommend you use this chart to learn the writing system, I hope you can see the variety of fonts and styles, and the variety of locations you can see Japanese.

Note, it was hard finding all the hiragana on the street. Katakana and Kanji are much more prevalent. More to come on that later. :wink: I have a katakana project in the works and hope to begin working on a kanji project that would actually help me learn some kanji myself.

All taken in Iida City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan

A rundown of the hiragana and where exactly they were taken from:

A= car ad from the newspaper
I = keyboard I/E button
U= notice sign
E= hand towel
O=shopping ad
Ka= old lady clothing shop sign
Ki= coupon
Ku = downtown window paint
Ke= Sign on Sakuramachi Street
Ko=neighbor hood watch sign for protecting children/kodomo
Sa= Plastic from toliet paper pack
Shi=Shiba dog calendar
Su=Roads slippery when wet sign
Se= License Plate for normal cars
So= Yaki Soba box
Ta= Tabaco sign
Chi=Caution sign near construction site
Tsu= Katsudon banner flag
Te= Poster outside guidance office at high school
To= Wooden sign Ryan and I made for our house say’s “Jeanne and Ryan”
Na= Beware of neighboorhood theifs sign
Ni= somewhere between home and the store
Nu= keyboard !1/Nu key
Ne= Wood plank menu from outside a yakitori restaurant
No= From cigarette poster on cigarette vending machine
Ha=festival latern outside restaurant
Hi= indentification marker for tree in front of elementary school
Fu=mochi ice cream packaging
He= inside a yakiniku menu
Ho= hand painted sign in front of salon
Ma= license plate for small engined cars
Mi= from gomi or garbage collection site in neighborhood
Mu=children’s manga
Me= taxi company window
Mo= a rock with a haiku on it in my neighborhood
Ya= fancy restaurant sign
Yu= postoffice or yubinkyoku sign
Yo=handmade library sign
Ra=storefront window sign
Ri=festival bandana
Ru=neon light sign board
Re=from ”tomare” or “stop,” this is written on most intersections
Ro= anime magizine ad
Wa=sign inside grocery store
Woackaging from kitchen supplise
N=banner from curtain shop

Btw, just a few minutes ago when I was finishing up putting all the hiraganas into this chat my husband asked, "What's Left?" I said, "Yu and Ho... yu ho." We both lol'ed. Apparently I'm going to be 25 this year...

Description
Back in college we previewed a lot of children's books and young adult books for English education. One cool book I believe was called ABC NYC, where a photographer went around NYC and took pictures of the alphabet as it appeared on signs, on the street, etc. After seeing that book, I always thought that it would be cool to do something like that with Japanese. With a little motivation from you lovely dA people I finally got around to it. For the past week I've been hunting around for hiragana in Iida and came up with this...

While there are a lot of imperfections and I don't recommend you use this chart to learn the writing system, I hope you can see the variety of fonts and styles, and the variety of locations you can see Japanese.

Note, it was hard finding all the hiragana on the street. Katakana and Kanji are much more prevalent. More to come on that later. :wink: I have a katakana project in the works and hope to begin working on a kanji project that would actually help me learn some kanji myself.

All taken in Iida City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan

A rundown of the hiragana and where exactly they were taken from:

A= car ad from the newspaper
I = keyboard I/E button
U= notice sign
E= hand towel
O=shopping ad
Ka= old lady clothing shop sign
Ki= coupon
Ku = downtown window paint
Ke= Sign on Sakuramachi Street
Ko=neighbor hood watch sign for protecting children/kodomo
Sa= Plastic from toliet paper pack
Shi=Shiba dog calendar
Su=Roads slippery when wet sign
Se= License Plate for normal cars
So= Yaki Soba box
Ta= Tabaco sign
Chi=Caution sign near construction site
Tsu= Katsudon banner flag
Te= Poster outside guidance office at high school
To= Wooden sign Ryan and I made for our house say’s “Jeanne and Ryan”
Na= Beware of neighboorhood theifs sign
Ni= somewhere between home and the store
Nu= keyboard !1/Nu key
Ne= Wood plank menu from outside a yakitori restaurant
No= From cigarette poster on cigarette vending machine
Ha=festival latern outside restaurant
Hi= indentification marker for tree in front of elementary school
Fu=mochi ice cream packaging
He= inside a yakiniku menu
Ho= hand painted sign in front of salon
Ma= license plate for small engined cars
Mi= from gomi or garbage collection site in neighborhood
Mu=children’s manga
Me= taxi company window
Mo= a rock with a haiku on it in my neighborhood
Ya= fancy restaurant sign
Yu= postoffice or yubinkyoku sign
Yo=handmade library sign
Ra=storefront window sign
Ri=festival bandana
Ru=neon light sign board
Re=from ”tomare” or “stop,” this is written on most intersections
Ro= anime magizine ad
Wa=sign inside grocery store
Woackaging from kitchen supplise
N=banner from curtain shop

Btw, just a few minutes ago when I was finishing up putting all the hiraganas into this chat my husband asked, "What's Left?" I said, "Yu and Ho... yu ho." We both lol'ed. Apparently I'm going to be 25 this year...