Himakajima: The Japanese island with one traffic light that only turns green once a year

This tiny island's solitary traffic light is more of a local legend than a necessity, symbolizing the laid-back lifestyle of its residents.🏝️

Himakajima’s are special in that they only turn green – or “blue” as they call it in Japanese – on one day out of the year. For the other 364.25 days, these lights are in a constant state of flashing yellow in the direction of the coastal road and flashing red on the road leading into Hakajima East Port, making them equivalent to a pair of stop signs in the north-south direction. 🚦

The reason is that these stop lights were never intended to serve any sort of traffic control. They were installed in 1994 at the request of the Himaka Traffic Safety Association to help teach the island’s children how to follow the signals in case they move out to a big city someday. 🧒

Source: Sora News 24
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