If you’ve ever walked around in Tokyo you probably noticed the bumpy yellow blocks along sidewalks, in train stations and government facilities. These blocks are called 視覚障害者誘導用ブロック (shikaku shōgaisha yūdōyo block) “guidance blocks for visually impaired” and they are literally everywhere. They function as a kind of braille for the blind to guide them when walking along the street. There are basically 2 types. The tiles with the round peg like bumps are used to indicate the end of a path, intersection, step or drop. The ones with the longer bumps indicate the direction of the path. These blocks are used in combination all over the city and in every train station. Amongst the directional type, there are the longer bumpy type, some with long bumps the length of the block, others with many shorter bumps. These are often used together as a kind of transition, probably to indicate to the person to slowdown as they near a staircase or drop. Some sidewalks don’t use blocks but tiles that they stick onto the pavement. This types tends to get worn out quickly like in the above photo but I guess it’s still cheaper than ripping up the sidewalk and putting in new blocks.
The other day I was watching a bunch of guys laying out these “tiles.” First they chalk a line on the sidewalk where the line goes by running a long string through a bag of white powder, making sure to coat the entire string with powder. Next 2 guys at either end would pull the string taut, carefully postioning it precisely. Then a third guy would pluck the coated string at the centre chalking a line onto the sidewalk. It’s hard to describe. You have to see it to know what I mean but it’s a very simple and ingenius way of drawing a straight line without a ruler. After than, they would literally glue the bumpy parts onto the pavement and then paint the whole area with a very thick rubbery yellow mixture. So technically, these ones aren’t really tiles since they don’t come premade.
They are using what’s called a ‘chalk line’. They are pretty common in building & construction and very handy too.
Sounds like they are doing it quite a difficult way, since wind up spool versions have been around for years. With the spool version the string winds up inside the unit/handle, and there is a little cap that you can open to refill with chalk powder that you can buy in little plastic bottles from the hardware store.
I have a theory that you can travel the entire length of Japan simply by following the ‘yellow brick road’. Those yellow blocks and strips seem to be everywhere!
I’ve also seen other ones where they don’t even bother to paint it yellow, just glue or screw the little metal studs down. Perhaps it sometimes clashes with the design the street scapein new developments?
I guess for totally blind people it doesn’t matter about the colour, but for those with partial blindness that don’t use a cane or other aids the yellow might be helpful.
I agree with Dylan - I could go to the uriba on the other side of the overhead bridge with eyes closed by walking on those yellow tiles.
Really handy. But I never saw a single visually-impacted person…
Roy,
You are truly amazing. I am just eating up these kinds of posts about this kind of info. I have been going to Japan for 6 years and still didn’t know this.
I always assumed they were just for ordinary safety - to provide a bright color for people to see a stair or train platform. I had no idea about the different sizes of the bumps nor what the yellow panes were for.
Thanks for the cool info! Keep it coming!
I’m always surprised by your reactions.
I made this post in december and thought it was soo boring and not worth publishing. Going through my unpublished stuff this morning I decided to publish it. I guess I’ve been in Japan too long and don’t know have much objectivity anymore. At any rate, my brain is full of all kinds of useless knowledge like this so more will be forthcoming.
I like this kind of post too. I almost posted about this before, but your post is much more complete than what I’d have come up with. :)
I’m surprised saffronsaris has never seen a blind person, I very often see people with a white stick, like a few times a week.
Anyawy, Tokyo is by far the city friendliest to the blind (or so it seems to me anyway) that I’ve seen (there, who am I to know).
Tokyo is blind-friendly, but it must suck for people is wheel chairs.
That’s why I often see blind people (a few times a week), and literally “the blind leading the blind” (two blind people walking around Tokyo together). But I’ve only seen wheel chair bound people once or twice.
They must do their shopping, etc in the outer/newer suburbs of Tokyo because wheel chair access is hard to come by in my area (Kichijoji).
so the contents of Elton John’s classic song
“Yellow Brick Road” comes true in Tokyo 8)
they have these in england too, dont they? Or am I just going mad?
(not everywhere in england, england isnt that blind-friendly.)
When we first came to tokyo we wondered about these too, and after walking for so long around \Tokyo they give a good massage for your feet, for those of us that can see :D
Oh so thats what it is, i’ve seen it before and never knew what it was.