They even boast an Easter Egg of sorts: Press the button on the side and an LED light illuminates the “blade” from within.
How long until we see “candid shots” of these promotional items appearing on the net in a viral lightsabre hand rail duel video?
[PSFK via Design Taxi via neatorama]
Lolwut
Monday, September 26, 2011 at 7:33 AMI do want to steal one now
EckyThump
Monday, September 26, 2011 at 7:43 AM“Nothing Says ‘Steal Me’ Like Tokyo Lightsabre Train Hand Rails”
Meh, Japan has one of the lowest crime rates in the world! Somehow I doubt it’s a problem,.. Oh, that, and the fact that this is lame! #}
light487
Monday, September 26, 2011 at 8:46 AM+1
Indeed. This is precisely why we don’t have these kind of promotions and other “valuable” assets laying around Australian streets and public transport. Whenever I travel to Asian countries, I’m always blown away by the amount of tech they have strewn around their public networks.. even at bus stops in the middle of nowhere. Some may say, and I agree, that China is still a developing country in many ways but when you see the tech mounted at every street corner, even in the less “well off” cities, it’s easy to forget the poverty stricken villages/towns just a stone’s throw away.
Luke
Monday, September 26, 2011 at 10:11 AMyea its seriously not a problem in japan and it’s something they should be commended for, these wont get stolen.
Take a look at a heap of their mobile phone stores, when i was in osaka for example a store had a display of working phones outside the front door, and guess what? they weren’t even tethered to the display booth. And guess what again? they were all there. Small things such as that make you really appreciate their culture/honour/moral code.
Caesar Wong
Monday, September 26, 2011 at 12:03 PMAnother +1 from me.
It’s nothing short of amazing what can be achieved with a culture that respects public property. What I couldn’t believe was that some of their trains had window shades – put one of those on a CityRail train in Sydney and watch them get defaced / destroyed on the first day of operation.
Dave
Monday, September 26, 2011 at 1:25 PMAgreed. I’ve been to Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo and the thing that amazes me is the lack of graffiti, chewing gum, rubbish or even dirt on the public transport networks. Plus they run on time.
Commander Shepard
Monday, September 26, 2011 at 7:51 AMThis is great.
Funny how the guys in the background couldn’t care less.
James
Monday, September 26, 2011 at 10:12 AMit’s just a sticker wrap around on the pole. Nothing to steal, and even if you did peel one off, you could’nt reuse it anyway. It’d be ruined.
Clever idea, and cheap to implement. Replacing vandalised ones would be a cinch.
Sam
Monday, September 26, 2011 at 11:42 AMHow do you explain the light and button in the “sticker” then
Penmonicus
Monday, September 26, 2011 at 11:44 AM+1
That’s what I thought.
Edward
Monday, September 26, 2011 at 11:33 AMUnfortunately, the author forgot that this was Tokyo, where people are civilized, and believe it or not, don’t actually steal stuff.
ari
Monday, September 26, 2011 at 11:45 AMi dont c how they could be stolen in the first place since they seem like stickers that go onto the poll…
darylcheshire
Monday, September 26, 2011 at 12:16 PMI remember reading about when Harris (blue) trains were introduced to Melbourne in 1956 and the seats were slashed in one compartment on the first day. The Railways ran it like that for a week with posters describing the condition.
They got a lot of public sympathy.
matt g
Monday, September 26, 2011 at 12:18 PMI live in tokyo, they don’t light up. Its just a sticker. Trains have very high safety regulations. The cost to implement “light up” versions would have been immense.
Shane
Monday, September 26, 2011 at 3:30 PMThis makes me sad. But on the plus side, I no longer want to commit a felony!
Shane
Monday, September 26, 2011 at 3:30 PMAccurate or not, that article title is win. Made me smile and click. :)