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.
