When you need help with the sign for help

といあわせ. The little letters over 問合せ tell you how to say it. You can sound it out and still wonder if this is where you can ask for help. That came up during a walk-through of Mitaka’s public library in Tokyo. Some neighbors knew about the library but had never been inside. They came once they heard they could ask questions in plain Japanese. The sign for help already had furigana. A plainer version would tell you what you can do. 分からないことを聞いてください. Ask us if there’s something you don’t understand. On a riverside sign downstream from Ōkura Dam in Miyagi, the big line uses 放流 and 増水. Just above it, a line in everyday words says the dam can let water out and the river can rise. Farther down, the sign gets to what you need to do. When the warning sounds, stay off the riverbed.