Yokoso

The Japanese signs you walk past every day — decoded

Japan is generous with signage and assumes you can read it. These twenty signs run shop doors, stations, and parking lots nationwide — and each one decomposes into kanji you'll meet again, so learning the sign teaches more than the sign.

On shop doors

営業中 えいぎょうちゅう — open (for business). 中 tacked onto anything means "in progress" — business happening now.
準備中 じゅんびちゅう — closed — preparing. The flip side of 営業中; often means closed between lunch and dinner.
定休日 ていきゅうび — regular closing day. Small shops close one fixed day a week; check before driving across town.
営業時間 えいぎょうじかん — business hours. Posted by the door with times like 9:00〜18:00.
年中無休 ねんじゅうむきゅう — open every day of the year. Literally "all year, no rest."
押 おす — push · 引 ひく — pull. The 押/引 mix-up is a daily gaijin ritual. End yours here.

Getting around

入口 いりぐち — entrance · 出口 でぐち — exit. Everywhere in stations — follow it before following your phone.
非常口 ひじょうぐち — emergency exit. The green running-man sign. 非常 = emergency, 口 = opening.
駐車場 ちゅうしゃじょう — parking lot. The big P. 場 = place/grounds.
満車 まんしゃ — lot full · 空車 くうしゃ — spaces available (and, on a taxi dashboard, a vacant cab). 満 = full, 空 = empty.
お手洗い おてあらい — restroom. The politer sibling of トイレ — literally "hand-washing."

Warnings and money

立入禁止 たちいりきんし — no entry / keep out. 禁止 = prohibited; 禁 + anything = don't do that thing.
注意 ちゅうい — caution. 足元注意 = watch your step, 頭上注意 = watch your head.
危険 きけん — danger. Stronger than 注意. If a sign says 危険, believe it.
禁煙 きんえん — no smoking. Same 禁 as above — the pattern is the lesson.
無料 むりょう — free · 有料 ゆうりょう — paid. 料 = fee; 無 = without, 有 = having.
割引 わりびき — discount. On supermarket stickers: 2割引 = 20% off. Evening bento hunting, essentially.

Learn them so they stay learned

Reading a list once won't survive a month. Yokoso teaches these signs with spaced repetition, quizzes them the way the street does, and unlocks each one only when you know the kanji inside it — free, offline, built for people who just moved here.

Practice real signs free