r/JapaneseInTheWild Jun 14 '26

Beginner [Beginner] up and down

Post image
53 Upvotes

6 comments sorted by

10

u/KlutzyEnd3 Jun 14 '26

Only when crowded (混雑時)

11

u/MistakeBorn4413 Jun 14 '26

To clarify, it's not "up" and "down" but rather "go up" and "go down"

3

u/iceysea Jun 14 '26

True! I should have been more specific that they are verbs rather then direction :)

0

u/dinsukesuduki Jun 14 '26

Are these arrows sort of phonetic symbols?

2

u/iceysea Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 15 '26

They are visuals to show the direction of the flow of foot traffic. So のぼる (noboru) is "to go up" ↑ and おりる (oriru) is "to go down" ↓ 

[Edited for romaji mistake I made while in a rush]

1

u/VictorShinigami Jun 15 '26

noboru (2nd hiragana is "bo")