Jeanneabeck’s Weblog

It’s interesting when you find something in another culture that isn’t even thought about in your own.  One interesting you’ll find in Japan, and now in my visit high school, are these machines.  When pressed it makes a flushing sound that lasts for about 25 seconds so that when you are going to the bathroom no one will hear the peeing sound you make.  I find it hard to believe that hearing the sound of someone else peeing is rude or embarrasing.  It’s something I’ve never thought about.  When you go to the bathroom you go.  Everyone’s human, what’s the big deal?  Apparently it’s a big enough deal in Japan – in order to save water (if there is no sound device some girls will flush the toilet before going so no one will hear them) companies, businesses and schools will buy these things.  It’s annoying for me because they’ve installed these contraptions right next to the toliet paper.  If I’m not careful I’ll set off this machine without meaning to.

On the other hand, yesterday I had to teach a class about going to the doctor/dentist and buying medicine in a foreign country.  I brought in empty boxes of cold and sinus medicine.   Apparently there’s no easy explanation in Japanese for “sinus.”  Teachers and students alike were baffled and the more the girls learned about sinus cavities and the idea of being congested there the more grossed out they became.  I ended up feeling like a freak and was happy when class ended.  What does this mean though? I suppose this means that either Japanese considers sinus headaches and congestion part of another symptom or that no one in Japan ever gets this symptom.  If I get the chance maybe I’ll ask someone more bicultural about this; chances are though I’ll just never bring up the idea of ”sinus” anything in Japan again.  Ha ha.