Google Doodle: what are Tenji blocks?
Search engine honours Seiichi Miyake, the inventor of tactile paving
Today’s Google Doodle pays tribute to Seiichi Miyake, whose invention of the Tenji block transformed the way visually impaired people navigate urban spaces.
Millions of us walk over Tenji blocks every day without giving a thought to their purpose or just how much they mean to those who are unable to see their surroundings.
Miyake, a businessman and part-time inventor from Japan’s Okayama prefecture, became interested in accessibility in 1963, after witnessing a blind man with a cane struggle to cross a road, says HuffPost Japan.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
With the help of his friend Hideyuki Iwahashi, the chairman of an association for people with disabilities, Miyake developed a system of tactile paving in which raised lines and bumps would help visually impaired walkers navigate road crossings and other common urban obstacles.
He called the invention Tenji blocks, after the name for the Japanese version of Braille.
Tiles with raised lines tell the user that they can proceed forwards safely, while raised bumps signal “stop”, and are commonly used to mark a curb or platform edge. The blocks are often painted in bright colours so they can be seen by people who are partially sighted.
The first Tenji blocks were installed outside a school for the blind in Okayama in 1967, and became mandatory in all Japanese railway stations in the 1970s.
In the 21st century, Tenji blocks can be seen in towns and cities in 150 countries around the world, according to Japanese newspaper Mainichi. They are often referred to as tactile paving or truncated domes.
Over the years, Miyake’s original system has been developed and expanded to include more symbols, offering blind travellers even more information about their surroundings.
“For instance, when the raised lines are horizontal in the direction of travel, that might mean ‘look out for steps ahead’,” says CNet.
In 2017, YouTuber Tom Scott made a video in conjunction with the Royal National Institute for the Blind in which he explored how Tenji blocks are used in the UK. Watch below:
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Magazine interactive crossword - May 3, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - May 3, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
Magazine solutions - May 3, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - May 3, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
Magazine printables - May 3, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - May 3, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
English literature: is it doomed?
Speed Read Arts and humanities courses are under attack thanks to a shift to ‘skills-led’ learning
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Are UK classrooms a new political battleground?
Speed Read Government has issued new guidance on political neutrality in schools
By The Week Staff Published
-
Kathleen Stock resigns: the ‘hounding’ of an academic on the front line of transgender rights debate
Speed Read Sussex University students claim ‘trans and non-binary students are safer and happier for it’
By The Week Staff Published
-
How 100,000 ‘lost children’ disappeared from UK school system
Speed Read Experts warn that vulnerable pupils may be recruited by gangs after failing to return to education post-lockdown
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Why is the government planning to cut arts education funding by 50%?
Speed Read Proposal described by critics as ‘catastrophic’ and ‘an attack on the future of UK arts’
By Kate Samuelson Last updated
-
Elite university drawn into sex abuse scandal as French reckoning escalates
Speed Read Hundreds of students are sharing allegations implicating top educational establishment
By Joe Evans Published
-
Portugal bans remote learning for private schools to level playing field
feature Expat children unable to learn from home after criticism of state school online teaching
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
Schools do not spread Covid-19, multiple studies find
Speed Read Reports from Germany, Norway and the WHO conclude schoolchildren are not vector of infection
By Holden Frith Published