There are other signs and signals that are always present and they are prohibitions, and believe me, in Japan there are more prohibitions than in many other places in the world.

禁止 - Kinshi - Forbidden or Prohibited

And well... what is forbidden? Many times these prohibitions are very explicit, so explicit that you just need to give a look at the sign and you already know what they are talking about, like in the case of it's forbidden to smoke or to park since these signs are universal, but in many cases, is just written and you need to read them. Here I put you some of the most "frequent" prohibitions you might find:

立ち入り禁止 - Tachiirikinshi - Forbidden entrance

関係者以外立ち入り禁止 - Kankeishaigaitachiirikinshi - Forbidden entrance to non-authorised personel

禁煙 - Kinnen - Forbidden to smoke

駐車禁止 - Chushakinshi - Parking prohibition

撮影禁止 - Satsuei kinshi - Forbidden to take photographs

通行禁止 - Tsuukoukinshi - Transit prohibition

出入り禁止 - Deirikinshi - Entrance and exit prohibition

持ち出し禁止 - Mochidashikinshi - Forbidden to take it away

持ち込み禁止 - Mochikomikinshi - Forbidden to bring or to take

追い越し禁止 - Oikoshikinshi - Surpassing prohibition

飲食禁止 - Inshokukinshi - Eating and drinking prohibition (Forbidden to bring any food or beverages)

And well, of course prohibitions aren't the only signs you might stumble on while you are in Japan, there are many things you will find that aren't used in our countries but they are of vital need there.

One day I went to dinner with my triplet friends, and one of them, Shuhei, stood in front of the door and he told me "Look, it doesn't open!", so I thought "What? Isn't this automatic?" Well, when we entered it was automatic, but going out was "semi-automatic", it had a button with a sign saying ここに押し てください (koko ni oshite kudasai) - Please press here.

These type of "buttons" aren't only used in restaurants in doors, and you will find them most commonly in transit lights (交通信号 機 - koutsuushingouki), they have some similar instructions, for pedestrians and for drivers, but as in Japan is bloody expensive to get a car, I will talk about the signs you will find in the transit lights (信号 - shingou)

夜間押しボタン式 - Oshi botan shiki
They are the "type" that change faster when you press the button.

夜間押しボタン式 - Yakan oshi botan shiki
At nighttime, these buttons are used like oshi botan shiki, because there are very few pedestrians at night to be changing periodically, so they change only if it is really needed.

時差式 - Jisa shiki
Well, these transit lights change automatically every certain time, for example 1 minute, 2 minutes, and such, this is natural, but the sign is placed for people who want to look for a button because there isn't one xD (once I spent 10 minutes looking for one ^^U)

感応式 - Kanou shiki
They change only when there are cars approaching or getting near.

夜間感応式 - Yakan kanou shiki
The same as Kanou shiki, but they only have this function at night, because sometimes there is too low transit in that direction.

感知式 - Kanchi shiki
They only change when there is a a car standing in front of a sensor installed in one of the nearby spots, so the car should stop just in front of the stop line.

盲人用信号 - Moujin you shingo -and- 音響装置付 - onkyou souchi zu(ke)
They are the pedestrian lights that algo have a sound alarm or an acoustic device to guide people with blindness or seeing disabilities.

There are also some lights that have buttons, but these are classified:

歩行者用 - hokoushayou - Only pedestrians can press it

自転車用 - Jitenshayou - For Bicycles

二輪車用 - Nirinshayou - For 2-wheel vehicles, such as bicycles and motorcycles

自動車用 - Jidoushayou - For autos

And all the possible combinations of them... autos and bicycles, pedestrians and bicycles, motorcycles and autos, etc.

Well, now thinking about it, these signs aren't exclusive of transit lights, sometimes you might be able to find them in other places. I remember that once while going to Chiba, I was waiting for the train but it arrived and left, without even opening the door. After some time analysing the situation I found a signal that said 押してください (oshite kudasai - Please press) and a buton. It was because it was cold, so the door wouldn't open if it wasn't needed :roll: