Ichikawa-Mama station gets linguistic makeover just in time for Mother’s Day

http://bit.ly/2bIvubL Scott Wilson

Besides the flowers, can you spot what makes this station name-change special?

Mother’s Day is here, and Japan has a bunch of gift ideas for you to show mom just how much you appreciate her. How about some Mother’s Day Kit Kats? Or how about some, uh, Mother’s Day panties?

But maybe your mom would prefer something different, something a little more simple. Maybe even just a photo of you together at “Mama Station” in Japan?

▼ Okay, so it’s not “Mama Station,” it’s “Ichikawa-Mama Station,”
but close enough! Especially recently.

え、え、えっ！
市川真間駅って市川ママ駅になったの！？

めっちゃお洒落な駅になったね pic.twitter.com/q99SSPa288

— りょうた (@shinta6087) May 9, 2019

If you can only read the English above, then the station name might not seem like anything special. Sure, “mama’ is in there, but it doesn’t seem like anything special.

But the Japanese is where the word-magic happens. Usually, Ichikawa-Mama is written as 市川真間 with the last two kanji reading “mama” and not really having any special meaning. However, in honor of Mother’s Day, the station recently replaced their signs to instead read 市川ママ with the last two characters still reading “mama” but actually meaning “mother.”

They’ve also decorated the name with a border of flowers, just to make sure everyone knows it’s on purpose and doesn’t miss it as they walk by. Here’s some other snapshots:

▼ “I just passed by, and they changed the ‘mama’ in Ichikawa-Mama station. It’s kind of cute.”

通り過ぎただけだけど
「市川真間」駅が「市川ママ」になってて
なんだか可愛い pic.twitter.com/iCKHvWPVHE

— 藤奈 《メットライフドーム祈願中》 (@boc_fujina) May 11, 2019

▼ “I ran to Ichikawa-Mama station when I heard it changed. As an old man, it was a little embarrassing to take pictures with so many kids around. (^_^;)“

市川市民として市川ネタは外せない。ということでニュースにも取り上げられた市川ママ駅に走ってやって来ました。
JKやJCの通学時間に、汗だくのおっさんが写真を撮るのはちと恥ずかしかった(^_^;) pic.twitter.com/klBZAI29MP

— だ～まえ@5/19青葉の森リレー (@da_ma_e) May 10, 2019

▼ Here’s a video showing a bunch of signs, along with a place inside the station for people to pose with their mothers for pictures.

「市川真間」駅が母の日まで「市川ママ」駅にhttps://t.co/tRP0248Ktr#nhk_news #nhk_video pic.twitter.com/YW4uklj8IY

— NHKニュース (@nhk_news) May 10, 2019

Ichikawa-Mama’s station master has said that: “We’d love to have parents and kids visit together, and to express their thanks that they usually don’t say during the rest of the year.”

The vast majority of responses have been positive, with one person saying that the station is usually pretty bland, so they hope that it stays this way indefinitely. That’s probably not going to happen, but they’re right that it’s definitely giving some attention to an otherwise forgotten station!

Here’s how Japanese netizens responded to the name change.

“Ooh, that makes me feel warm inside.”
“Nice idea!”
“I thought of this once before, cool to see it actually happen.”
“They should do this at Mama-da station and Ō-mama station too.”
“That is a sweet sentiment. Thanks, Mom!”

And if you can’t make it to Ichikawa-Mama station to take a picture for mom, no worries. You can still just draw a picture of her as a death god or high school student at 7-Eleven!

Source: NHK News Web via My Game News Flash
Featured image: Twitter/@shinta6087