３月９日（水曜日）２０２２
家のそばの道路の反対側は人工池でその向こうには市の高校があります。留守にしていた三年の間に中高一体の新しい校舎が建てられ、新しい道も信号も増えました。その信号は押しボタン式で、押すと「Wait!（待て！）」と男性の声が出ます。押してから声が出るまで間髪入れないタイミング、しかも出てくる声が男性というのが日本の生活に馴染んでいる私には意外で、これが面白くて笑えます。他の信号は同様にWait！と言って少し置いて同じ声で「Walk sign is on to cross.（横断サインが点いてます）」というのが三回続きます。
日本でこんな押しボタンがあるでしょうか。目の不自由な人のためにこのような音声が出るのでしょうが、日本ではどんな時も優しい女性の声。横断歩道では音楽が流れます。男性の声というのは珍しいと思うのです。気に入りました！
Across from my house on the opposite side of the road, there is an artificial pond, and there is the Belmont city high school beyond the pond. While I was away from Boston for about three years, a new high school combined with middle school was built and new roads and traffic lights were also made. There are push button signals. The other day, I tried one of them, then I heard a male voice say, "Wait!". I heard the voice at almost the same time I pressed the button. It surprised me as someone who has been living in Japan these years because we usually hear female voices and male voices are very rare. It also made me laugh somehow. There is another type of push button signal which comes out with the same voice, wait!, then after a few seconds, I could hear "Walk sign is on to cross" three times.
I wonder if we have this type of signal in Japan. These are for people who have problems with their eyesight and most of them are female voices. At the push button signals, we often hear electronic music or electronic bird voices. We seldom hear male voices and I like it!
