Kirk here with some news about the Hanabata Hiroba (downtown near the Kotsu Center). They were planning on embedding brass plates with little history lessons on them but that plan has been cancelled. The plates (already made and installed) have the names of venerated historical figures and, because they were to be embedded in the pavement, people would wind up stepping on those names. That caused a backlash and so the plan has been scrapped – after spending lots of money to make and install the plates. Personally, I’m less bothered by having the names embedded in the pavement than I am by the name that had been given to the plates: Rekishi sign (歴史サイン). Rekishi, meaning “history” is fine but whether we’re taking about the English “sign” or the Japanese “サイン” (a loanword offspring that has declared independence from its English parent), “rekishi sign” just doesn’t sit well with me as something to be embedded in pavement. Or is it just me?
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/b9bec17c4f11ad15533282d202fb6a1b3d1d2c49