The TL;DR for the article is that the reason Japan has blue lights is based on language: Japanese originally had names for four colours: black, white, red, and blue. Green was often considered a...
The TL;DR for the article is that the reason Japan has blue lights is based on language:
Japanese originally had names for four colours: black, white, red, and blue. Green was often considered a shade of blue. Original documents used the word AO (blue) for the lights instead of MIDORI (sprout / green).
edit: On doing some more reading on this it seems actual green lights are becoming more popular as LEDs get used more and more. Not sure why but apparently it's not uncommon to find in the same town a selection of green, teal, and blue lights.
Well, kinda blue. When I was there you didn't really notice much of a difference in the major cities like Tokyo. Here's an example. I mean, if you really focus on it, you might notice that it's a...
Well, kinda blue. When I was there you didn't really notice much of a difference in the major cities like Tokyo. Here's an example. I mean, if you really focus on it, you might notice that it's a bit tealer?
Maybe in the countryside you'll find some old, mythically blue traffic lights.
So weird that they made the lights more ao instead of just changing the official wording to midori. Seems like it would be way easier to just change the wording in the official documents then...
So weird that they made the lights more ao instead of just changing the official wording to midori. Seems like it would be way easier to just change the wording in the official documents then decree that lights can be the bluest shade of green and allow for inconsistency across the country.
As a random tangent this reminded me of, I recall that there was at some point in the past a push to try to make Red/Yellow/Blue a standard for all traffic lights as Red/Blue colorblindness is...
As a random tangent this reminded me of, I recall that there was at some point in the past a push to try to make Red/Yellow/Blue a standard for all traffic lights as Red/Blue colorblindness is much less common than Red/Green.
I read a few articles on that site, and each time it links to another article it seems like they originally linked the text "this" or similar and then updated it at some point for accessibility to...
I read a few articles on that site, and each time it links to another article it seems like they originally linked the text "this" or similar and then updated it at some point for accessibility to instead link a descriptive phrase, but kept the original text, and so the entire sentence is super awkward and makes no sense.
Ok glad I'm not the only one. I drove there for years and I have no memory of the lights being any different color
The TL;DR for the article is that the reason Japan has blue lights is based on language:
Japanese originally had names for four colours: black, white, red, and blue. Green was often considered a shade of blue. Original documents used the word AO (blue) for the lights instead of MIDORI (sprout / green).
Follow up link that explains why we use Green, Yellow, Red: https://www.rd.com/article/traffic-lights/
edit: On doing some more reading on this it seems actual green lights are becoming more popular as LEDs get used more and more. Not sure why but apparently it's not uncommon to find in the same town a selection of green, teal, and blue lights.
Can't have midori at traffic lights that would be inappropriate driving behaviour.
Well, kinda blue. When I was there you didn't really notice much of a difference in the major cities like Tokyo. Here's an example. I mean, if you really focus on it, you might notice that it's a bit tealer?
Maybe in the countryside you'll find some old, mythically blue traffic lights.
I get a 401 Unauthorized error when I try to load that image.
Hm, well this is the shutterstock page for it https://www.offset.com/photos/tokyo-japan-december-16-2014-traffic-light-and-shinjuku-office-306359
So weird that they made the lights more ao instead of just changing the official wording to midori. Seems like it would be way easier to just change the wording in the official documents then decree that lights can be the bluest shade of green and allow for inconsistency across the country.
As a random tangent this reminded me of, I recall that there was at some point in the past a push to try to make Red/Yellow/Blue a standard for all traffic lights as Red/Blue colorblindness is much less common than Red/Green.
I read a few articles on that site, and each time it links to another article it seems like they originally linked the text "this" or similar and then updated it at some point for accessibility to instead link a descriptive phrase, but kept the original text, and so the entire sentence is super awkward and makes no sense.