anesthetizing the masses

every time I come to Japan I am thoroughly amazed at the extent to which they use little cutesy cartoons on signage. they are EVERYWHERE. from little cartoon men in coveralls telling you (I think) that you are in a hardhat area, to the parrot pointing out high voltage powerlines overhead with his wing.

But my favorite was a large sign over the freeway that said, "Emergency road: in the event of an earthquake, this road will be closed." Who is responsible for telling us this dire news? Why, a smiling catfish, of course! Perhaps during major catastrophes it is nice to be distracted from your own fleeting mortality by having a jocular sea creature comforting you with a smile and giving out instructions. Sadly, I wasn't quick enough to get a picture of this one, and a quick bit of googling couldn't find it either. next time, I promise.