What is this mysterio Japanese car sticker?
More than a year ago I took this picture of mega-mysterio Japanese sticker and a car in a parking lot.
Everybody I asked didn’t know: Japanese friends, cops, doctors…everybody just said, “Huh?”
Could this “Blue Shamrock” car sticker mean the Japanese driver is handicapped by too much Irish whiskey?
Well today I stumbled across this only-in-Japan factoid…
In June of 2002, Japan adopted the shamrock symbol to designate handicapped parking. The Japanese logic was the international symbol of a wheelchair did not encompass all forms of disability (heart conditions, stroke, being Irish, etc).
—Japan-only symbol
—International handicap symbol
- 
January 20th, 2006 at 3:39 pm
Ah, and how on earth does a shamrock cover all these conditions? It must have some alternative japanese meaning to the western “lucky” one? XD
By the way I love 3Yen and read it every other day so Thanks and keep it up =D
October 13th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
The folks at neatorama.com seemed to have spread this funny car sticker all over the Internet.
See: http://doiop.com/neatorama
I find it odd that I’m being quoted about this strange handicapped symbol since I took the picture of the car window so long ago (Nov 2005). I’ve posted it several times on different Japanese forums over the past year trying to find an answer to the Irish-on-Board warning sticker.
Now I’m wonder why is everyone on neatorama.com and linked blogs are calling me “Shuto” (meaning ‘expressway’ in Japanese) when my name is ‘Taro’? Is this a Gaelic spelling handicap, hee, hee?