By: Alex
Tokyo, Osaka, and other regions have been under a state of emergency for over a week, with residents heeding calls to stay home and avoid going out. With public spaces left unmanaged, unexpected changes have occurred without warning—for instance, netizens captured footage of a passageway at a Tokyo station where a row of TV screens displayed the "blue screen of death," evoking a post-apocalyptic sense of desolation.
There’s finally a feeling of an abandoned city. pic.twitter.com/2ThooEHjpG
— Minase@Tough Citizen (@37s_039) April 11, 2020
Twitter user Minase (@37s_039) recently passed through a Tokyo station and noticed an unusual sight: the TV screens, originally used for advertisements, had all turned blue. Upon closer inspection, the reason for the “crash” was revealed—Windows 7 had stopped receiving technical support in January this year, prompting users to upgrade from Windows 7 as soon as possible.
▲A netizen walks past a Tokyo station and sees all the billboards displaying blue screens. (Photo by 37s_039 @Twitter)
He described the experience as feeling like stepping into an abandoned city from a sci-fi movie or video game. However, once he uploaded the photos to social media, they quickly became prime material for other netizens to Photoshop. The spoofed subjects included: Halo, the Umbrella Corporation lab from Resident Evil, SoftBank’s Pepper robot, and The Terminator, among others. What kinds of images would Hong Kong netizens associate with this scene?
▲Just by dimming the brightness slightly and adding some touches, the atmosphere becomes very “apocalyptic.” (Photo by hati_rei_ @Twitter)
▲Dim the brightness even more, and it adds a layer of horror. (Photo by hati_rei_ @Twitter)
Let’s mess with it more. pic.twitter.com/1PXv9VEnWY
— Nameless-ish Nameless (@mB0f3NoAFERbGiV) April 11, 2020
Let’s mess with it even more. pic.twitter.com/DLVKn71ItT
— Nameless-ish Nameless (@mB0f3NoAFERbGiV) April 11, 2020
▲HALO (Photo by mB0f3NoAFERbGiV @Twitter)
▲The Umbrella Corporation lab from Resident Evil (Photo by leo_kanamen @Twitter)
▲The Terminator? (Photo by fearmotion @Twitter)
▲(Photo by Keng2w @Twitter)
▲SoftBank’s Pepper robot (Photo by bi25kaw3 @Twitter)
Sources: SoraNews24, Minase@Tough Citizen