CBC Television News Japan/YouTube When you hear that there's a traffic light that only turns green once every year, you might have a small level of surprise, perhaps a bit of intrigue. When you hear that it's in Japan, you might nod your head in mild understanding. Those Japanese, they just love to do things in such a quirky way, right? You're probably imagining a traffic light for Godzilla, or maybe a green light that allows a group of those uniquely calm deer they have to migrate across a highway or something. In this case the quirky thing they're doing that Americans could never fully understand is properly educating children about road safety. The quiet island town of Himakajima, just off the coast near Nagoya, installed a single traffic light in an effort to teach kids about the dangers of automobiles, and the importance of properly understanding traffic signals and patterns. These children would never encounter a standard three-color signal in their day-to-day lives on the island, because there aren't any. The tiny island has a population of about 1,600 people, so there isn't much call for intersection traffic management. That's right — this light was specifically installed to educate the youngsters of the island about traffic lights, which are way older than cars. The hope is that they'll be prepared for it if they ever decided to leave the island to live in the big city someday, or at least travel there. Green — or blue — means go Yusuke Ide/Getty Images The traffic light is at 72 Kodochi, Himakajima, Minamichita-cho, Chita-gun, Aichi Prefecture, right at the island's eastern port. Most days of the year it's set to perpetually flash red for the road leading into and out of the port, and yellow for the coastal road that bisects it. For those 364 days it acts more or less as a stop sign. There isn't much need for more, since the island is hardly a bustling metropolis. You can walk the 3.4 miles all the way around the island in less than 90 minutes, so it isn't difficult to get around here without even the greatest Japanese cars. Installed in 1994, the lights are used once a year to demonstrate how red-yellow-blue (the Japanese call the green light blue) lights work. The primary school in Himakajima escorts its third and fifth graders down to the port to practice crossing the street with a real traffic signal. Children line up at the signal, wait for it to change, look both ways, and cross within the "zebra stripe" crosswalk with their arms raised to help with visibility. In this way, they learn city traffic etiquette and proper procedure. Before the light's installation the schools used small training props, but soon learned that the students weren't getting a proper understanding of how traffic signals work. Without real-world experience, the children of Himakajima weren't prepared to leave the island for mainland schools or work. This simulated traffic crossing helps bridge that gap and get these kids ready to leave their bubble and interact with a fast-paced city. Though they might want to get accustomed to a smaller big city like Kanazawa before testing their mettle in a booming metropolis like Tokyo, Yokohama, or Osaka.