“No Smoking” by any other name still smells the same, and these dozen international No Smoking signs want you to know smoking stinks here, there and everywhere.
Our lead image comes courtesy of Flickr user Somegal, who snapped this anime-inspired No Smoking sign in Musashino, Japan. The sign doesn’t discourage smoking itself, but instead warns against tossing lit cigarette butts. Either way, you don’t want to “cross” this fiery demon so play it safe by chewing some nicotine gum instead, mmkay?
Familiar yet different, that’s a common feature of many international No Smoking signs. The gritty pictogram above comes to us courtesy of Flickr user Nemo’s great uncle and was captured outside a Tokyo train station in early September of 2007. The wording along the red circle’s upper half reads “rojō kitsuen kinshi”, or “no smoking in street” while the four characters below spell out the name of Chiyoda-ku, the first metro Tokyo municipal government to pass a “no smoking” ordinance banning smoking within a certain distance from a station entrance or exit. Just one quibble… shouldn’t the red diagonal lay OVER the stylized cigarette and not under it?
So, like smoke quickly, as if your life depends on it? We’re not sure what to make of this odd pair of advisories from Hong Kong but when in doubt, DO NOT SMOKE… the puff you take could be your last. Flickr member lets.book captured this bleak (and smokeless) scene in March of 2010.
We didn’t have to go too far to find the sign above… Coconino County, Arizona! Flickr user Patrick Dockens captured this unusual No Smoking sign in Coconino National Forest back in 2009… no telling if it’s still there or if someone knocked it down with a giant cigarette.
