Click on the image to see he big version. Today not many kanji’s to explain but rather the meaning of the whole. As you might expect the image explains half of the sign.

だれかがきっとみているぞ

あやしい人見つけたら

110番

We’ll only handle this part of the text. As you can see on he image, it clearly shows a ninja sneaking in a large hallway. Of course this is forbidden in Japan.

だれかがきっとみているぞ
Somebody is almost certainly looking at you!

あやしい人見つけたら
If you see a suspicious person (あやしい人)

110番
Number 110.

Thus meaning, if you see a suspicious character, dial 110!

The kanji in this lesson are

人 ひと (hito) or にん (nin) which means: “Person, man. It can be used for a counter like 二人 (futa-ri)　- 2　Persons. Or you can use it as a person from a country. F.e. American – アメリカ人　(America-Jin).

the other kanji is

見 from 見つけたら which comes from the word 見つける　(mitsukeru) which means: Find, locate, discover, to detect. 見 on its own has a similar yet a different meaning: 見る(miru) – to look, to see, to watch or to view, which are the most common meanings for this kanji. 見 and 人 are very important kanji’s and you will often see these around.

Here are some common words that make use of the same kanji:

外人 – がいじん – Gaijin = Foreigner
一人 – ひとり – Hitori – Alone, by oneself
見物 – けんぶつ – Kenbutsu – Sightseeing
花見 – はなみ – Hanami – (Cherryblossom) flowerviewing
見学 – けんがく – Kengaku – Fieldtrip

Previous classes (click image):

Welcome to week 2 of Papi’s Japanese Sign Language a.k.a. PJSL. Click on the image for the big version.
I think the image is self explanatory but once again let’s go into details.

The image says the following: 子供飛出し　注意！！！Literal translation:　Caution! Children may jump out (suddenly).

We learn 3 new words today:
Kodomo　こども（子供）- Children
Tobidashi　とびだし（飛出し）- Jump out
Chui　ちゅうい（注意） – Warning, Caution!

These words can be split into various useful kanji. In Kodomo 子供 the kanji for kid/children is 子.
IN the word Tobidashi 飛出し we can find two words. Tobi (飛び) which means Jump, leap, hop. And the word Dasu （出す） which means: “get out, take out, to show” and many more meanings which I won’t elaborate because it might cause acute headache! Chui (注意) Warning/Caution is definitely a word you might want to remember when you visit Japan as it can be found in many places and you don’t want to accidentally enter a Ninja Dojo. 注意注意！！

Something completely new today. Well new…Not sure if it’s done before, but I introduce you, the PapiGiulio Japanese Sign Meanings Education or a.k.a. PJSME. Errrr something like that. What I do is, I pick (a) sign(s) in and around Japan every week and explain the meaning of the signs and/or the kanji in the signs. Depending on how much signs I have I will for now post only 1 each week.

Readers who are interested in adding signs or would like to know the meaning of some signs, please by all means send me an email with the signs and ill be happy to translate the signs (of course your name will be included in the picture) and post it here.

I thought this might be a good idea for both my study of the Japanese symbols and of course fun for the readers plus for people who want to find their way around Japan, even though they now have almost 90 % translated in English heh. Oh and please DO correct me if my translation is wrong.

Yerrrr well let’s start of with a simple one. click on the image above. What you see is a Japanese firehydrant. And of course very easy, the kanji (Japanese markings) on the firehydrant of course stand for the meaning: firehydrant also known as Shoukasen (消火栓)

The interesting part about this word is that it combines the words Extinguish/Erase (消) and Fire (火) …get it?

So what have we learned:

消火栓　= しょうかせん = Shoukasen　=　Firehydrant

I will not go into the deeper details for each kanji, because that might be too difficult for some of you.