A sign like this is by law posted in front of any building construction. I gives the starting and finishing dates and the names and addresses of the owner, the architect, and the builders. However, it does not say what the building will be used for.
Across the street from the building site, is a market. The name on the wall tells us three things about Japanese. First, they love to use English. For example, I went to my doctor's this morning and he had the waiting room, the office, and the rooms where he sees patients. The door to the office had a sign painted on it,
Staff Only, but no Japanese. I doubt very much if many of his patients can understand, but they would all agree that it is classy. Second,
& or
and need not connect things which are the same part of speech. In English if the first word is an adjective, the second word must also be an adjective, for example. Here in typical Japanese fashion
& connects an adjective with a noun. Third,
ProMarket is not English. It looks like it might be but it is a made up word. I have two guesses as to what it means: pro as in professional, indicating that the service will be good; pro as in produce, indicating that what they sell is high quality, and of course, it may mean a combination of the two.
This little yellow box is, as the blue and white sign says, for crossing the street. You press the red button and the lights will change so that you can cross the zebra crossing. The thing I don't understand about these is that, after you push the button, the traffic lights go through a complete cycle before you can cross. You have to just stand there and wait. It seems to me that letting the pedestrian cross right away and then waiting until a complete cycle has taken place would be a far more efficient process. The way they work now encourages people to walk to the middle of the block and they jaywalk.
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