Danica Davidson
January 25, 2023 
A survey that was done in 2021 discovered that, on average, drivers in Japan only stop for pedestrians at a crosswalk 30.6 percent of the time. It also broke down which areas were better about having drivers stop. Okayama came in very last, with about 10 percent of drivers halting if a pedestrian was crossing the crosswalk. The people of Okayama realized they needed to do something about this. But what?
Then they had their answer: “Ninjas.”
Specifically, Okayama Toyopet, a Toyota dealership in the area, came out with a minute-and-a-half video called “Road to Ninja.” The video is humorous but also meant to be informative, and is subtitled in English so you don’t need to speak Japanese to understand what they’re saying. A little bit of it is animated, and it also shows traditional Japanese art before moving on to the live-action part.
While the video is cute and jokes about needing to be a ninja to cross the road, it also leaves viewers with the very serious statistic that nearly a third of pedestrian crossing fatalities happen when a person is using a crosswalk, the way they’re supposed to.
Things have improved since the 2021 survey. The latest survey said, on average, Japanese drivers now stop 39.8 percent of the time for crossing pedestrians, up from 30.6.
But there has especially been a major change in Okayama. Now drivers are stopping for pedestrians just under 50 percent of the time instead of about 10 percent of the time.
Can we credit the ninja ad? It’s really hard to say. It could be the ninja ad, or it could be a combination of things. But perhaps more ninja ads will play across Japan, thanks to Okayama Toyopet’s idea, because you shouldn’t need ninja training to cross the street.
Source: SoraNews24
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
