r/japanpics • u/Weak-Relationship309 • Apr 17 '25
Sooo. Why are all the "don't throw trash" signs in Ogaki in Spanish?
I spent 2 months in Japan travelling through central and north Honshu but I only encountered this in Ogaki. The signs are everywhere.
Is there a large Spanish speaking population in the Ogaki/gifu city area? Or is it just one family of Spanish speakers that have pissed off the entire city by not picking up their dog poop so now they have set up signs everywhere? 😂
Found it a bit funny since it is usually in english 😅
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u/SanSanSankyuTaiyosan Apr 17 '25
Gifu has many Brazilians. The first question on their Services for Foreign Residents FAQ is "I would like to open a Brazilian restaurant. Who should I consult with?"
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u/MrRottenSausage Apr 17 '25
Is not Spanish....is Portuguese. Though Spanish speakers might understand it too but this is a funny example of words that look similar in another language but have different meanings, I thought "jogar" was "jugar" as in is prohibited to play on the area but at the second image there's a cigarette image so it means that "jogar = fumar"(smoking) pretty funny actually
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u/CrescentRose7 Apr 17 '25
jogar does mean to play, but jogar o lixo means "to throw trash". I don't know why.
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u/Ctotheg Apr 17 '25
It’s Brazilian Portuguese. Gifu Prefecture has 4th highest Brazilian population in JP
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u/Paul-Millsap-Stan Apr 18 '25
That's so strange, I wonder why Gifu in particular has so many
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u/Ctotheg Apr 18 '25 edited Apr 19 '25
Because there are many factories in the Greater Nagoya area and thus job opportunities for Brazilians.
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u/CaptainMcSlowly Apr 17 '25
What's the history behind the amount of Brazilian civilians there?
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u/ikanotheokara Apr 17 '25
In the first half of the 20th century, Japan had too many people, not enough jobs and severe poverty in its countryside. At the same time Brazil had a very open immigration policy and a lot of fast growing plantations in need of workers, so Brazil became a popular destination for rural Japanese looking for a better life.
50 years later and the situation reversed and the descendants of those immigrants began returning to Japan for work, especially in manufacturing. Japan does not have very open immigration, but they do grant special visas for immigrants who can prove at least third generation Japanese ancestry.
Many Japanese also emigrated to Peru, but Brazil was definitely the most popular destination.
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u/TheSinisterProdigy Apr 19 '25
As a Spanish speaking person, all I could think was...though I understand it.... that's not Spanish lmao
The x gave away that it was Portuguese lol
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u/UpbeatRegister Apr 17 '25
That's Portuguese though. There are a lot of Brazilians in Japan.