Manner Posters: A Genre Approach

Abstract

Illustrated posters appealing to passenger conduct–so-called ‘manner posters’–are ubiquitous in Japanese public transport spaces. This article draws on archival research and interviews with railway and design professionals to introduce transport company-issued manner posters as a genre of public communication, and link its development to social shifts in post-war Japan. The article first examines passenger behaviours targeted by posters, discussing efficiency, comfort and safety as underlying concerns of company appeals, and analyses the textual structure of posters. This review of the genre’s defining characteristics is followed by an exploration of its history. While manner posters are frequently traced back to a 1974 poster series issued by Eidan (now Tokyo Metro), this article argues that although posters became more complex and widespread in the 1970s, their history reaches back to the Taishō era. The article explores the historical context of the genre’s development by highlighting changes in the railway and advertising sectors. I argue that it was railway companies’ increased efforts to improve the quality of public transport, along with advances of posters as an advertising medium and changes in the style of public communication, that spurred greater adoption of elaborate manner posters in the mid-1970s.