FT271

Visitors to Japan between the mid-1970s and mid-2000s may recall a curious melody that used to accompany the ‘green man’ at some pedestrian crossings – I can still hear it echoing in my head from the time I used to cross the road by Osaka Station on my way to work in the 1980s.

It’s a while since I heard it, though. On a return visit in September 2005, crossing the same road, I noticed something was different, and it took a while to work out what that was. The melody had gone, and it’s probable it will never be heard again.