Recently I got an email with a link to this website, with lots of posters which used to be in the metropolitan trains in Tokyo. Some of them are very Japanese, but some others could perfectly be applied to any other country.

My favourite ones are as follows (clic on the images to enlarge them):

• “Please refrain from putting on make-up in the train”: It was very common to see girls (and women) putting on make-up, especially false eyelash.

• “Please set your mobile phone to silent mode and refrain from making calls”: I did this quite often. I did not talk loud, but I used to talk in the train… which was actually not very popular.
• “Please be careful of noise leaking from your headphones in the train”: This is one which could be applied to any country. Japan was okay in this sense, much better than some lines in Madrid’s tube…

• “Please be careful when handling a wet umbrella”: I love the drawing. 🙂
• “Please refrain from drunken behavior”: Another one applicable to almost any country, but with special focus in Japan and Sweden.

• “By the door, please be considerate of passengers getting on and off”: One day, a guy was exactly as the one in the poster in a train I took from Machida to Shinjuku… He was sleeping in that position, probably after drinking way too much. He even fell a little bit, and was hit by the door when it closed… and the girl travelling with him did not help him much in this.