The Japanese have some unique ways of looking at the world, and as an “outsider” (which is what the word gaijin literally means) I often find myself scratching my head. There’s a long list of somewhat confusing views the Japanese have — if you sneeze, it means someone is gossiping about you, don’t ever pass food from chopstick to chopstick, and eat sekihan (“red rice” containing azuki beans) to celebrate certain life-affirming family events — that really perplexed me at first. Once I took my family to the beach, and a bird flying above us happened to poop on my daughters head. To my surprise, my wife acted happy that such a thing would happen, and told me having a bird poop on you is considered good luck in Japan, because the word for poop (unchi) sounds like the word for “good luck” (unki)…which might explain some of these products. It’s also supposed to be lucky if swallows build a nest in your house, since it means they consider it a safe and secure place. We’ve currently got a nest containing the cutest baby chicks you’ve ever seen right above our front door, giving us a double good luck bonus, since we have both the nest and the poop.
The Japanese have a unique way of looking at the world.
