This picture was taken inside of a toilet in a Tokyo Line train station…

Yes… I take my camera everywhere…

Ad Text in Japanese:

「このトイレットペーパーは、東京急行の切符等をリサイクルしたものです。」

Ok, vocab and grammar attack!

「この」means “this”. As apposed to 「その」which means “that”,

「トイレットペーパー」 is Katakana for Toilet Paper.

「東京急行」Literally, 「東京」is “Tokyo” and 「急行」is “Express”, as in Express Train, as you probably know if you’re in Japan. Together though, this is the name of a train company.

「切符等」Okay, 「切符」just means “ticket”. 「等」is a Kanji which can mean “etc”, or make things plural. For example, in slang terms one can say, 「うち等」to mean “us”. It can also be use with 「彼」to mean “them”, 「彼等」(ALC link) often times it the 「ら」is simply written in Hiragana however, as 「彼ら」。 In this case it just means “tickets and things”.

「リサイクルしたものです。」

「リサイクル」just means “recycle” in Katakana. 「もの」literally means “thing”. This grammar pattern is often used, where you have a verb modifying a noun, but the noun is vague and only referred to as “thing”.

For example you can say, 「タコスは肉とチーズと野菜を混ぜたものです。」”Tacos are something made from mixed meat, cheese, and vegetables.” Note that the verb before this is past tense. If the verb before is in future/present tense the meaning will change again… Ask if you wanna know, it’s a little hairy.

So, “This toilet paper is made from recycled Tokyo Kyuukou tickets! (and things)”

So that’s where all the tickets end up…

- Harvey