Thursday, March 10, 2011

Tokyo's city logo is everywhere - Part 1

I'm not sure what the connection is, but the logo for Tokyo is the humble Gingko leaf.  If you pay attention as you walk through this hectic metropolis, you'll find this logo used as a design element in many different things.  Over the last several weeks I taken pictures of a few them.

This ginkgo decorated manhole cover was located in Aoyama Bochi (cemetery).


These leaves were embossed as part of a marble trimmed planter box near the Omotosando Koban (Police Box).


The ginkgo leaf is also the logo for the Tokyo Bureau of Transportation also know as Toei (Wikipedia).  The ginkgo leaf is featured on street cars, buses and their subway lines. This useful "Transfer and Exit Information" chart is displayed in several locations on all train platforms. In addition to having a gingko leaf logo in the top corner, it can save you precious time when making transfers and exiting the station by showing which car is nearest to the exit, escalator, elevator or transfer point.


Here's one of their old but well preserved street cars on display near Ueno Zoo.

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