Inside the Forbidden City, Beijing. People identify their groups with hats and customized flags.
Together with the red walls, I find the scene overwhelmingly red. How in reality do people identify their group, if from far far away?
How do you tell where you are? Looking at the fashion of two men walking in front of me, I sensed my destination Harajuku, the center of youth fashion, is near.
In a city where most streets have no names and without grid, pedestrians sometimes give better hints about your location.
Nice handwriting seems indeed important in the culture. Text your name to a number and you will receive an improvised signature as MMS. The outcome? The advertisement claims you should impress girls as you sign your name.
The service is definitely interesting but makes me wonder, how are those signatures produced? Are they automated, which surely will involve some technical solutions, or done by hand of their staffs individually? Something to find out during my next visit when my phone is within the network.
The sticker placed in the car lists etiquette Beijing taxi drivers should follow. You can also interpret this as something that drivers tend to or used to do until recently.
1. Inside the car should be organized, shall not be personalized.
2. Inside the car shall not smell.
3. The driver shall wear uniform during operation (I have never seen a driver wearing uniform)
4. Passengers can request the settings inside the car
5. Driver should sincerely serve; talk politely
6. Make sure passenger carries one’s belongings
7. Should proactively help passenger to place their luggage
8. Should not smoke or drink during its operation
9. Use meter accurately
10. Should voluntarily provide receipts
11. Receipts should be clearly readable
12. Should not spit or throw bins outside
13. Should accept credit card payments
Based on my personal experience, Beijing taxi drivers are one of the best mannered taxi drivers in China now. We seldom come across with a driver who tries to cheat or resists to issue receipts. In a sense, we could already presume that by the time we see such stickers properly visible in a vehicle, these manners are most likely put into practice.
Personally I find the quality of Beijing taxi lies elsewhere, and I very much prefer Beijing taxi over ones in Tokyo. Beijing taxi drivers, they are flexible, friendly, and helpful. A taxi driver would keep an eye on my luggage and my daughter as I check if I am in the right terminal and fetch a cart at the airport. Without running a meter. Unlike in Tokyo, they wouldn’t play a recorded voice telling me that I should buckle a seat belt, either. What is there not to love about them?
When there are more availability than you could handle, star ratings come in handy. Here in Ditan Park, Beijing, found star-rated public toilet. Having had the experience of backing out of a public toilet as I was challenged with my limit for sanitary tolerance, I appreciate that now there is something I could assess the quality prior to entry.
Just when you think that there is no space left in this world for more advertising, China often surprises me as the country demonstrates how much there is to be exploited. Here inside the building in Dashanzi Art District in Beijing, I found mirrors inside the toilet double functions as a poster. Five to six posters appear one at a time as they were lit from the back. Poster themes vary from men’s shirts to an upcoming action film, covering everyone’s interest as the area is served for both men and women to wash their hands once out of their dedicated toilet space.
From lift waiting area, ATMs to gas stations, Chinese advertisement companies show that there are small slots of time that we waste in public spaces and can be utilized to get products advertised. It is no surprise that the advertisement has reached to toilets.
And whether people appreciate ads stalking them is another issue to be seen.
The owner of the handbag leaves the table to order some food in a fast food chain restaurant in Beijing.
While the scene is somewhat familiar for a resident of Tokyo, the action was definitely something unseen in Beijing a few years ago. In fact it was precisely in Beijing, where I was reminded by a stranger that in many cities this is not safe to do, and Beijing is definitely one of them. That was 15 years ago.
Whether 15 years is enough for a change is certainly something we could argue for. At least this was the very occasion I realized that the city is definitely developing with safety. If I were to be wrong, I hope the lady is not too hasty to be relaxed about her bag.
Inspired from the tweet by 5by50: Pets outnumbered kids since 2003 in Japan. By 2009, total of 23.2 million cats and dogs. While the number of kids remain six million.
What can be the reason behind? For one explanation, you can look at another data, which describes the daycare capacity of the nation. As Japan has been hit by the recent economy crisis, many housewives are trying to be back to work to compensate the decreasing household incomes. However, because of a severe delay in Japanese government to be prepared for the situation; Japanese daycare can only hold 2.13 million and there are 46,000 children waiting to be served.
An old theater house beautifully restored in Toyooka, Hyogo. Large panels placed on both sides of the theater hall are advertisements years ago. The word TEL and following telephone numbers show, that back in those days you only had three digits to distinguish local phone numbers. The same city now uses six digits for their local numbers.
A number of digits required in a phone number naturally implies complexity (different operators, systems), phone penetration, and the number of people with phone access. In this context, it was more the time and history I felt while I strolled around the beautifully kitsch posters of the hall.
Photo by: Benoist Sebire, all rights reserved.
Back when I was in Beijing, I loved listening to stories from my friends about the old times when they were younger. One of my particular favorite was the story from my friend who spent her childhood in XiAn.
One day when she was back from high school, she realized there were some strange things built on the street. With funny orange hoods and some sort of equipment underneath, it took her some time to realize they were what people call as phone-booths. She also told me that back in those days not many people actually realized what they are for, and found a few families ripping them off the streets, bringing them back home as a new piece for display.
What surprised me was that this story only took place 18 years ago. Since then, pagers appeared and very quickly, mobile phones came and penetrated the entire country. If we simply look at how vast the country is, and how much effort has
to be made to complete the infrastructure, it is no surprise that
mobile phones quickly swept over the landlines. But to those like me, who experienced these changes in much longer time span, it strikes almost as an agressive evolution.
And what is left behind, is a collection of bare cables tangled and hanging from houses. They may still work, who knows, I often saw amazing old antiquities work after a few strong slaps. But perhaps it is not the most serious issue any longer, as we now have mobile phones, which work perfectly without all these physical, tangible complexities.
Leapfrogging takes place for a reason. And the reasons would remain visible to our eyes.
