A Marvelously Huge Wall of Working Elevator Buttons

I enjoyed this video on how Shimada Electric Manufacturing Company makes elevator buttons, but I was utterly captivated by the giant wall of working buttons that they have in their office — Great Glass Elevator vibes for sure. Some screencaps are above…you can see the wall in action at the end of the video.

I want to visit! What fun to be able to press all of those buttons without the fear of irritating everyone else in the tiny box you’re all travelling in! Looks like they offer factory tours — maybe I’ll try to do that when I finally visit Japan. (Also, this would make a great art installation in a museum. You could say it was commentary on humanity’s helplessness against increasingly powerful and prolific technology (AI, if you want to be trendy). But really, people would just enjoy pushing the buttons.)

• elevators