Your Phone Looks Different

For all of Japan and Tokyo's modernity, there are still fragments of the Old State. NTT -- Nippon Telegraph and Telephone -- is the prime example. How they possibly found buyers for this recently privitised government monopoly amazes me. (How can it grow?) They still maintain a wealth of bizarre old public telephones throughout the country, including a set on each shinkansen (bullet train). In my one and half years in Japan, I have only seen their public phones in use on a handful of occasions. And they are everywhere in central Tokyo. In New York, they have simply become conduits for advertising. The city tightly regulates and taxes this revenue accordingly.

This pink one here is a particular gem. Its color instantly signifies to any Japanese person that it is only for domestic telephone calls. The greens ones have handsets that look military-issued, accept cards, and can dial internationally.

This telephone appears outside the Hara Museum. Perhaps it is an ironic joke to have this beautiful, but nearly useless telephone, stationed outside the museum entrance.