Having lived in Japan since the first Bush presidency, I generally feel like I've gotten used to the place..and yet, the country has brought me many moments of confusion over the years. Like the first time I saw a Japanese salaryman wearing an expertly tailored suit riding a bicycle whole holding an umbrella with one hand, which is something you just don't see back home. Or that first time eating ikizukuri, which is sashimi that's so fresh, it was cut off while the fish was still alive and moving. Outside of Japanese cities it's quite common for men to relieve themselves wherever it suits them, and it's such a problem you can see signs that say "It is forbidden to urinate here" in front of people's houses, which was certainly a surprise to see. Another thing that made me do a double-take was the common practice of shops stacking their merchandise out in front of the shop, where anyone could presumably make off with it...although apparently no one does. The other day I went to the local supermarket to pick up some food items my wife needed, and I noticed a cute girl handing out samples in one aisle, so I went over. The samples were little cups of beer, which seemed an odd thing to be giving away freely to customers who were going to be driving home in their cars soon. I'm pretty sure they don't do that in the U.S.
Living in Japan means not being surprised at seeing this all the time.
8 comments:
Re: Itty-Bitty Cups of Beer
It's also exceedingly irresponsible, given Japan's terribly strict DUI rules. But I guess like everywhere else, people in Japan bend the rules. That's actually somewhat comforting.
Actually, people do steal stuff from in front of shops (at least in Tokyo). I witnessed a theft before. There's a local green grocer type of store and I saw a man walk up to one of the bins, pick up some food and just walk away with it.
By and large, I don't think it happens too often, and I think that given the small size of shops, they figure that the extra sales from using the space to put out extra goods greatly exceeds the losses from petty theft.
2dteleidoscope, I remember when I first got here, no one cared about drinking and driving at all. It was like, sho ga nai, and I was so confused since it's obviously a huge danger to innocent people, to say nothing of the driver himself. Here I think they do just ignore the urination without freaking out about it (they don't, ah, make them register as sex offenders like another country I know).
Orchid64, that could be. They're probably putting stuff they don't care as much about. I do like that about Japan, in general people like the general honest attitude, and no one would want to be the one to break it, so we're all a bit more honest than we might be.
There's a stand near J-List where you take vegetables an old woman grows and deposit the money in a little box. I would so never take vegetables from there without paying.
One time I went to the store and they were handing out free cups of wine. And this was in your hometown of San Diego. Of course it was at a navy exchange so it's not too terribly surprising.
Businessmen ride around all the time on bikes in New York. :O
have you ever seen a business man on a bike urinating on a pile of merchandise in front a store with an umbrella over it while eating live fish soaked in cute beer from a free girl handing out nice suits? i didn't thing so
In my town in PA that's pretty strict with liquor. ie. No beer sold in groceries, liquor stores close at 9, beer distributors the same. Earlier on Sunday. And one of the liquor stores I went to was giving out free samples of shots. Straight vodka and wine. Gave the person who was driving 3 different ones. They were more like half-shots but still. There was no real way anyone would walk to that shopping center.. It's odd.
Haha - that's hilarious about the signs that forbid public urination. If you ever take a picture of one, please post it here: www.iPeedHere.com
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