Friendly but pervasive: ‘Manner posters’ and the management of passenger conduct on Japanese urban railways

Signage communicating behavioural expectations is a common sight in contemporary cities. This is particularly evident in spaces of urban mass transit, as public transport providers frequently utilise media technologies such as posters and notices to tackle passenger behaviours they consider dangerous, deviant, or otherwise undesirable. Despite the prevalence of such semiotic interventions in passenger conduct in public transport environments globally (Bissell, 2018; Butcher, 2011; Moore, 2010), they have rarely become the focus of social scientific study. This thesis addresses this shortcoming through an in-depth examination of ‘manner poster’ initiatives by railway providers in Tokyo, which stand out globally due to their near-ubiquitous presence in trains and stations in the city, their often cute and/or comic design, and the broad range of micro-behaviours targeted by them. Drawing on expert interviews with individuals involved in manner posters’ creation, analysis of industry documents, visual analysis of posters, and transit ethnography, the thesis presents an comprehensive empirical examination of manner posters as a genre of communication and governmental technology. It zooms in on three aspects of the media phenomenon: 1) manner posters’ textual structure and history, 2) the corporate considerations and concerns driving poster design and deployment, and 3) the visual strategies poster designers employ to problematise passenger conduct. Contrary to prior research which framed interventions in passenger behaviour as a form of social control, the thesis highlights that manner poster initiatives are not driven by regulatory will, but rather guided by corporate considerations of customer service, sensibilities, and satisfaction. It presents a interdisciplinary study which is situated at the intersection (and advances our understanding) of four areas of scholarship: 1) routine incivilities and their regulation, 2) the production and regulation of urban mobilities, 3) signage in urban spaces, and 4) urban railways in Japan.