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When you’re walking on the streets in Japan, you can see traffic lights everywhere. Normally, Japanese people distinguish each traffic light as follows:

・Red traffic light=for stop

・Yellow traffic light=proceed with caution

・Green traffic light=for go

In other countries, the colors are defined as red, yellow and green but here in Japan, somehow Japanese people call green traffic light “BLUE” The color is obviously green but why?

Let’s find out through this article.

1. First Traffic Light in the World 

Do you know when the first traffic light was created in the world? The first electric traffic light was erected on the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street in Cleveland, Ohio, August 5th 1914.

In comparison to this, the first in Japan was at the intersection of Hibiya in May, 1930. As you can see the history of traffic lights is Japan is still fairly recent.

2. But it’s Blue Not Green

Japanese people used to describe the major colors as black, white, red and blue. Since during this time the word “green” was not commonly used in the description of colors, the terms “blue apple” instead of green apple or “blue mountain” instead of a green mountain were used.

When the first traffic light was installed in 1930, it was commonplace to refer to it as “blue”, even with its distinct green color. The government was troubled by the increasing use of blue to describe the lights and eventually a solution in which traffic lights were made with the bluest green was deployed. The lights were still green, but blue enough to justify the name.

3. Why is it Green Anyway?

We see why Japanese people describe the green traffic light as blue but why is green selected for the traffic light anyway?

We can identify the color green better than blue color thanks to the composition of the human cell. This means that people can see green easier than blue.

There is a very famous story in Japan about the color of cars in that people say blue cars are more likely to have accidents since blue cars generally appear further in the distance than they really are. Blue is a receding color so people tend to catch that color as distance.

4. What Else is Green Described Blue in Japan?

What other instances do Japanese people use blue to describe the color green? The word for blue things in Japanese is “ao” and here are some other examples:

・ Green juice as blue juice

Japanese people say green juice as “aojiru” in Japanese and obviously the color is green but people describe the color as blue.

・ Green spring onion as blue spring onion

Green spring onion is one of the major vegetables that many Japanese people eat often in their daily life. Japanese people say green spring onion as “aonegi” in Japanese and obviously the color is green but people describe the color as blue.

Do you now see why Japanese people call the green traffic light blue? It’s very interesting to look back the history to find out the reason.

Remember, it’s blue for go in Japan!

YAE

Japan