"Frogs Crossing Ahead" – A Very Weird Road Sign
2008 May 25
In Japan you can see many weird and bizarre signs in public spaces. This is one the most strange we have ever seen.
The sign can be seen near the town of Karuizawa, which is in the Nagano prefecture (much like a large district). It was set up there by a local volunteer group to warn drivers from hitting frogs on the road. The nonprofit animal protection group Picchio, hopes it will cause the drivers to pay attention and drive slower during this time of the year which is the mating season for the frogs.
Let’s all wish that every frog will find it’s soul mate this season!
Source (Japanese): [Mainichi]
I hope it works. Frogs are so endangered wherever humans have a strong foothold today. Here in Sweden we mostly use tiny little underpasses under roads where frogs often cross. Maybe some of these signs would be a good augmentation to that. They certainly look silly enough to at least make people slow down to gawk at the sign
Hey.. I’m guessing that the top most text on the lower sign says 3-5 months. Is that the time span the frogs are active there, or what? My knowledge of the Japanese language (especially written japanese) isn’t good enough to let me decipher the rest of the sign
Do you have any idea?
As far as I know the mating season lasts about 3 months, and then the frogs aren’t erratic around the forest. In most of the year they must just be lying around and making noises
The sign actually says beware of frogs crossing between March and May( in Japanese month 3 to month 5, not for 3-5 months).