Signboards & Announcements
by Yui
Introduction
If you have been out of Shinjuku’s east exit, walking into Kabukicho, what are the first few things that you notice? It’s a busy city, on-goers everywhere, colorful lights, signs, public service. The sound of people chatting amongst themselves, loud drunk people, announcements, and so on. There are a lot of things going on, quite overstimulating, don’t you think?
Among the things I listed, in this section, we will be talking about the signs you would see and the announcements you would hear from the station and to and into Kabukicho.
Why signs & announcements?
Signboards
For this website, we will be focusing specifically on security or safety signs seen in Kabukicho. These signs are different from normal signs as they hold the purpose of warning people of certain actions and behaviors.
“For the most part, these messages concern the relationship between the individual and society and are framed by the narrative of danger and protection and by prescriptions of normative behavior” (Grinshpun 2013)
Announcements
Public Service Announcement (PSA) is “an announcement made for the good of the public”
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary n.d.)
For this website, we will be referring to the word “public service announcements” as “announcements”, focusing specifically from Kabukicho. Before going into the Kabukicho announcements, what makes a public service announcement a public service announcement?
We will be using this definition from Merriam-Webster’s dictionary as we talk about announcements and public service announcements as we go further into our topic.
So why are announcements important?
Announcements, similarly to signboards, are important as they are used in hopes to prevent or to stop certain behaviors, with the intent of encouraging the adoption of new, welcomed behaviors (Mliless et. al. 2019).
It attempts “to impact a person’s beliefs, attitudes, values, and behavioral intentions to prepare the audience for future engagements regarding social, cultural, political, and economic issues along with others (Mlilless et.al. 2019)
So who is in charge of these signs and announcements?
For the most part, groups such as Kabukicho Renaissance Promotion Council group, the Kabukicho Town Management, the Shinjuku city hall, and the police are responsible for the signs and announcements.
Kabukicho Renaissance Promotion Council is known to be in charge and responsible for the project “Kabukicho Renaissance.” The people of this council consists of local shopping district promotion associations, town councils, private companies, police, fire department, NPOS, volunteers and etc (Shinjuku City 2020). (click here to see a visual representation)
Kabukicho Town Management
Kabukicho Town Management was created as a result of the Kabukicho Renaissance Project, as many people began to participate. It was created with the intent of creating a place where everyone could join and participate in this network, establishing the Kihei Project at its core. The Kabukicho Town Management’s role is to carry out information, safety and security, beautification on the environmental level, regional revitalization, and community development (Shinjuku City 2020) in hopes to help the development of the Kabukicho Renaissance project.
Sections
Signboards & Announcements