Shoshinsha mark

Wakaba mark

The Shoshinsha mark (初心者マーク) or Wakaba mark (若葉マーク) is a green and yellow V-shaped symbol that new Japanese drivers must display on their cars for one year. A driver must display this mark one in front of the car, and one on back of the car, after they obtain a standard driver's licence, for one year. This obligation is only for a standard license, not for motorcycles, large vehicles, special cars, and so on. Drivers who consider themselves beginners may also continue to display the sign, even if they have passed a year period.

Its official name is The Beginner Drivers' Sign (初心運転者標識, shoshin untensha hyōshiki). Conversely, the orange and yellow "Fukushi mark" or "Koreisha mark" denotes elderly drivers. Both marks are designed to warn other drivers that the marked driver is not very skilled, either due to inexperience or old age.

Other Uses

The Shoshinsha mark are commonly seen on topics/tutorials targeted to beginners (whenever it involves driving or not), which having a meaning of "For beginners", "Beginners are welcomed" or so.

The mark is also used as the logo for the imageboard software Wakaba written in Perl by Turku, Finland-based programmer Dag Ågren and by the imageboard index iichan whose indexed imageboards use Wakaba as their software package. The software also features a markup language called Wakabamark.

The mark is also increasingly being used by JDM enthusiasts in other countries, for example the U.K etc, to show their passion and interest in JDM culture.