Since childhood, we are taught that green means moving and red means stopping. Small children sometimes mention traffic lights even in their games. Many poems have been composed in which green, yellow and red colors are mentioned. But do you know that there is a country in the world where all those poems and learned things are proved wrong? That is because in this country (Which Country Has Blue Traffic Light) yellow and red lights are used, but instead of green, blue light is used to control traffic.
There are blue traffic lights in Japan. (Photo: Twitter/@50_50_GOOD_Boy)
Let us tell you which country this is. The name of this country is Japan. Why is green color not used in traffic lights in this country famous for its technology, better facilities and strong economy? Actually, there is a strange thing in the Japanese language, due to which all this manipulation has happened. According to the Atlas Obscura website, for centuries, words were coined in Japan for only the four main colours, black, white, red and blue.
In Japan, turquoise light has been chosen, which is green but appears blue. (Photo: Twitter/@multilingualph6)
Japanese got confused in words
In Japan, blue is called Ao. If something green had to be talked about, it was also called AO. This continued for many years. But when many centuries passed, the word midori started being used for hare. Midori was also a shade of Ao. The word changed but people did not adopt that name. People used to call Hare as Ao.
This is why blue light is used
Now let us come to the green light of the traffic signal. Following international standards, the Japanese government used green color for signals. But in Japan’s official traffic rules and documents, green light was called AO, not Midori. The government was choosing green color, but language experts and common people were opposing it. He said that if AO color is to be chosen according to Japanese rules, then the government should also use it. Amidst external and internal pressure, the administration chose the third path. In 1973 he chose turquoise colored light. He claimed that his green color is a shade of blue. That means a color which is green but looks blue. People visiting Japan believe that the country has blue traffic lights, but the government there argues that they are not blue, but a shade of green that appears blue.
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FIRST PUBLISHED: January 5, 2025, 08:01 IST
