Your Environment, Japan

Your environment is something you never think about until it changes: the people, things, foods, sounds and smells that surround you every day of your life. In the 18 years since I started my Great Adventure in Japan — I remember promising to be gone just a year — my mother has visited me several times. Although I’ve been here long enough that I don’t pay a second thought to signs warning you not to urinate in public or to beware of chikan (perverts), whenever my mother comes for a visit I become more attuned to some of the stranger aspects of the country. Like big trucks that play the Disneyland Main Street Electrical Parade song to let you know they’re backing up. Kids going to school on Saturday. Extremely professional taxi drivers with immaculate vehicles. Peeing in a public toilet while the cleaning lady works nearby. Green traffic lights that are universally referred to as ao, which means “blue.” Or the way you’ll get amused comments if you don’t slurp your noodles as loudly as possible — people will actually point out how quietly you eat. It’s always fun to surf the various differences and see how they compare with things back home.

Japanese men really love to pee in public places.