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OLYMPIC DIGEST: Surfing Makes Dynamic Debut at Summer Games
The time when Japan’s 2020 Olympics arrives, the number of foreign visitors are absolutely going to be crazily increased. As Japan is one of known countries that is fabulous to visit for its deep culture and unique lifestyle, visitors definitely would not like to miss the chance of having a wonderful exquisite Japanese meal, and a lovely hot spring.
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The Japanese government are aware of the crazy forecast, and has been trying real hard to revamp the traditional pictogram symbols to make it more foreign friendly and understandable. The onsen (hot spring) symbol is one of their frustrations, as the old symbol looks cute and simple for Japanese people to understand, but according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the symbol could be misinterpreted by foreigners as the symbol for a restaurant that serves hot food. Three people have been added to the onsen mark to strengthen the meaning.
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However, Japanese people aren’t happy about the changes. The onsen mark had traditionally used not only as a symbol to direct people to the onsen area, but also became a fashion label mark on snacks, cute objects, and specially on onsen’s door entrance.
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Many are responding to the announcement by questioning just how far the country needs to cater to foreign guests, and feel that too many compromises are being made at the cost of preserving Japanese culture.
The full list of revised symbols will be revealed by March 2017, and will mostly be featured on signs in areas expected to have high numbers of foreign visitors. Official maps and most pre-existing uses will not be affected. But perhaps certain items will need to be re-branded.
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