For about 30 years, it was found that a road sign installed on a city road in Otaru City, Hokkaido, where it should have been written as "port" in English, was misspelled to mean "fart". The city will carry out correction work on the 7th to correct it.
What was incorrectly written in English was a road sign indicating the direction of Otaru Port, etc., installed on the city road "Akaiwa Transverse Road Line" in Otaru City.
In the spelling of the English word for the "port" part of Otaru Port, where it should be correctly written as "port", it was written as "poot", which means "fart" in English slang.
This road sign was installed by Otaru City about 30 years ago in Heisei 4, and in October this year, an inquiry from a citizen made an inquiry, and the error was noticed.
According to Otaru City, since there is no detailed record at the time of installation, it is not known how the notation was wrong, so the city will correct it on the 10th and change it to the correct notation.
A woman in her 80s from Otaru City, who was passing by, said, "I didn't notice it at all because I don't understand English well, and there was no one around me who noticed the mistake."
Otaru City commented, "I regret that some people may have felt uncomfortable with the incorrect notation, and since many tourists from overseas visit Otaru, I would like to be careful not to make a mistake when making notations."