signage

A bicycle with rear panniers parked in front of a traffic island inside a parking lot. A bush grows in the traffic island, and a sign peeks out of the bush reading (in English translation) “Number Five Parking Lot”. To the left of the traffic island a sign in Japanese asks drivers to turn off their engines when parked.

A sign standing in an empty lot reads (in English translation) “Under management / Century 21” above the name of the estate agent and a phone number.

A bicycle parked in front of a sign reading (in English translation) “Aichi Prefecture Seto Health Services Office”

A blurry photograph of the cover of a restaurant menu reading (in English translation) “Restaurant for Miso Cutlet Deep-fried in 100% Lard” and listing opening days and times with the phone number of the shop

A modern red one-story building surrounded by a parking lot, with “Koban : Police” written above the door in large letters.

A restaurant entrance, too dark to see anything but the sign over the entrance, which reads (transliterated): “Te-uchi udon / Yamabiko Benten”

Glassed-in facade of a two-story station building, mounted with a sign reading (in translation): Kenkyūgakuen Station.

Nighttime view of the entrance to a public bath, with a noren (doorway curtain) decorated in a colorful image of Mount Fuji.

A box of Showa-era cotton masks.

A street corner cluttered with a concrete power poll, several traffic signs, power lines, and a progression of three grey, nondescript buildings of, from nearest to farthest, one story, two stories, and three stories. A sign in front of the nearest building reads, “Ruck Cafe”.