"What Japan Thinks"

Just came across this website, What Japan Thinks.
It's--well, I think it's interesting.  The questions they ask in surveys--mostly not things that I'd think of asking myself, but nonetheless I realize I kind of wouldn't mind knowing.  The segment of people who use the otohime (sound princess) at home--why?  Is it for housemates, or the soothing nature of the sound?  

Below are some samples of questions and the breakdown of stats.  I like that the sample sizes are over a thousand; I recall my old professor saying that one needed at least a thousand samples to form a statistic.   I just want to be clear that the following information isn't of my own finding.  I'm just quoting what I saw at this link:  

The website is whatjapanthinks.com

I haven't looked into it yet, so I can't speak to its sources of information, or its accuracy, but just in terms of what it ponders, I thought it worth mentioning.  Will post more if I can find out something  about its sources.

Sample
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Research results

Q1: Which of the following functions does your home toilet have? (Sample size=1,045, multiple answer)

Heated toilet seat	73.3%
Warm water bottom washer	67.2%
Deodoriser function	34.8%
Bidet function	33.1%
Bottom dryer	31.5%
Auto flush	12.8%
Sound Princess	2.6%
Other	0.3%
None of the above	25.1%

 

Q2: Which of the following functions do you use on your home toilet? (Sample size=1,045, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=523	Female N=522
Heated toilet seat	62.7%	61.2%	64.2%
Warm water bottom washer	55.2%	56.0%	54.4%
Deodoriser function	26.3%	26.2%	26.4%
Bidet function	19.7%	0.0%	39.5%
Bottom dryer	10.0%	12.0%	7.9%
Auto flush	8.6%	10.1%	7.1%
Sound Princess	1.4%	1.7%	1.1%
Other	0.3%	0.2%	0.4%
None of the above	30.4%	31.5%	29.3%

Q3: Which of the following functions, items do you use in toilets outside your home? (Sample size=1,045, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=523	Female N=522
Paper towel	41.8%	32.3%	51.3%
Warm water bottom washer	41.4%	53.0%	29.9%
Hand dryer	37.1%	28.7%	45.6%
Toilet seat cover sheet	31.8%	27.2%	36.4%
Toilet seat cleaning liquid	28.3%	23.7%	33.0%
Sound Princess	26.3%	4.2%	48.5%
Deodoriser function	12.9%	15.7%	10.2%
Bidet function	8.2%	0.0%	16.5%
Bottom dryer	7.5%	10.9%	4.0%
Other	0.1%	0.2%	0.0%
None of the above	20.7%	24.1%	17.2%

The following question was for the 59.6% who said they did not use the warm water washer in public toilets.

Q4: Why don’t you use the warm water bottom washing function in public toilets? (Sample size=612, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=246	Female N=366
Not needed	33.5%	42.3%	27.6%
Bothered that other people have used it	29.6%	13.8%	40.2%
Concerned about the cleanliness	28.3%	16.3%	36.3%
Too much bother	11.6%	12.2%	11.2%
Ecological reasons	2.9%	2.4%	3.3%
Don’t know how to use it	2.3%	2.4%	2.2%
Other	0.7%	0.4%	0.8%
Don’t know what the feature is	2.3%	3.3%	1.6%
There’s not many toilets with that feature	13.2%	20.3%	8.5%

Q3: Which of the following items do you have in your home toilet? (Sample size=1,045, multiple answer)

Toilet cleaning items	66.2%
Toilet paper holder	66.1%
Mat	60.7%
Slippers	57.2%
Deodorant spray, etc	56.5%
Towel	47.6%
Toilet seat cover	44.8%
Rubbish bin	35.0%
Toilet lid cover	31.5%
Calendar	30.8%
Clock	19.1%
Decorative objects	18.2%
Artificial flowers	17.7%
Picture	9.6%
Magazine, manga	5.8%
Photo	5.8%
Live flowers	5.5%
Book	2.9%
Other	1.6%
None of the above	4.9%

Q6: How often do you lock your home toilet door? (Sample size=1,045)

Always	18.9%
Often	14.6%
About half the time	5.9%
Rarely	31.4%
Never	29.1%

Q7: How and how often do you wash your hands after using the toilet in the following situations? (Sample size=1,045)

	Always, with soap	Always, sometimes with soap	Always, never with soap	Sometimes	Never
All, home, poo	38.1%	20.2%	34.4%	4.2%	3.1%
Male, home, poo n=523	33.7%	21.8%	35.9%	4.8%	3.8%
Female, home, poo n=522	42.5%	18.6%	33.0%	3.6%	2.3%
All, home, pee	19.3%	21.6%	42.2%	10.8%	6.0%
Male, home, pee n=523	16.4%	21.2%	41.9%	12.6%	7.8%
Female, home, pee n=522	22.2%	22.0%	42.5%	9.0%	4.2%
All, outside, poo	42.8%	24.2%	29.5%	1.8%	1.7%
Male, outside, poo n=523	39.0%	25.4%	30.8%	2.9%	1.9%
Female, outside, poo n=522	46.6%	23.0%	28.2%	0.8%	1.5%
All, outside, pee	28.2%	26.8%	37.7%	4.4%	2.9%
Male, outside, pee n=523	22.0%	27.2%	39.8%	7.1%	4.0%
Female, outside, pee n=522	34.5%	26.4%	35.6%	1.7%	1.7%

 

FE8J3MCXH543

Q8: Do you stand or sit for a pee at home? (Sample size=523, male)

	Usually sit	Half and half	Usually stand
All	30.4%	16.3%	53.3%
Twenties N=103	43.7%	17.5%	38.8%
Thirties N=106	37.7%	17.0%	45.3%
Forties N=106	30.2%	14.2%	55.7%
Fifties N=102	19.6%	19.6%	60.8%
Sixties N=106	20.8%	13.2%	66.0%

Coming-of-Age Day

Today was Coming-of-Age Day in Japan.  It's called 成人の日（Seijin no Hi, せいじんのひ）, held on the second Monday of each January.  The official age for adulthood is twenty here--20 to legally drink, smoke, vote, drive without needing a parent or guardian's signature.  I think it makes a bit of sense to have all these things happen at one age.  Of course, not everyone turns twenty on the same day, but it seems to be understood that people who go through this rite of passage during the same one-year span can celebrate together.  I think it's kind of nice.

Some of these kimono cost serious money.  I knew a girl who asked her mother if she could have a car instead of the kimono that would be tailor made for this special day.  Her mother said no.




 

Oh Tokyo!

After spending two weeks in a couple of developing countries, Myanmar (Burma)and Laos, I came back to Tokyo and, as often happens after I come back from trips, I noticed and appreciated some of the conditions here that I might ordinarily take for granted.  Being able to drink tap water, even if the chlorine taste is a bit strong.  Being able to use credit cards.  Convenience stores on every block.  Supermarkets.  Clean public restrooms stocked with toilet paper. 
 
A lot of it is excessive, and certainly in societies of abundant resource there is waste.  Someone told me that with the energy you use to power a vending machine you could light up an entire block; and there are seriously a lot of vending machines here.  (Of course, I'm sure there are variables, such as the size of the block and how lit up you need it to be.)  


But for these first few days back, I'll let myself find comfort in convenience.  It's not that I think life in Japan is better than in these other countries, but I ought to to appreciate things as the feeling spontaneously arises.  One of the things I marvel at is Tokyo's train system.  Days ago, I was biting my lip in frustration as I waited for the monorail in Kuala Lumpur, where I spent the day in transit.  I stood in line at the ticket (actually, token) machines, which were touchscreen and clearly mapped out.  They looked quite modern and nicely designed.  But the touchscreen aspect really slowed things up; people were missing the spots they wanted to touch and having to go back and forth to navigate the monorail map.  I tried timing the wait, and some passengers were taking over a minute to buy one token.  On top of that, some of the machines refused paper currency; all of them refused large bills.  

To be fair, certain monorail lines ran more efficiently than others.  But while I was there I noted some of the things that I take for granted with Tokyo trains/subways/monorails.  Signs on every platform telling you which station you were at, what the last station was and what the next station will be.  Where the final stop is on each train line.  A full schedule posted of all train arrivals for the day, for weekdays and weekends.  Maps above the ticket machines so that people standing in line can calculate their fares ahead of time.  (Although I have to recognize that this doesn't always do the trick here in Japan, as I've often stood behind passengers who wait until they're in front of the ticket machines to gaze up at the maps and figure out how much money to put in. . .Truth be told, it's one of my two or three pet peeves.  Sorry, I don't mean to be whiny.)  Anyway, I found myself admiring the collective effort that must have gone into making the Tokyo train and subway system the efficient juggernaut that it is today.  Tens of millions riding those sleek rails every day! 

Below are some pictures of Kuala Lumpur's monorail system.  You can compare them to Tokyo's daily grind in the video that follows.

Kuala Lumpur

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Tokyo

Glorius View

Sometimes we can see Mt. Fuji from our school. . .

音姫 (The Sound Princess)

Have you ever felt embarrassed by the natural gaseous and liquid sounds we all make while doing Number 2?  For anyone who has, the public restroom in Japan is the place to be.

Witness the Otohime:



Incredibly, there's a Wikipedia article entitled "Toilets in Japan."  I think it's pretty good.  In the "Japan-specific accessories"  section you can find "The Sound Princess."  It mentions that "many Japanese women are embarrassed at the thought of being heard by others during urination. . ." 

See article here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilets_in_japan

When I first read that part of the article, my first reaction was surprise that people would be embarrassed to be heard urinating.  Really, urinating?  Well, I'm a guy, and. . .well, I don't know if gender should have anything to do with this, but I don't mind people hearing it.  I can even see being proud of it, as Tom Hanks' character Jimmy Dugan might have felt in this classic scene (if he'd been sober enough to think about it):



To be embarrassed to have someone hear one's peeing is a little messed up, was my first reaction, but I'm trying now to step back and not judge it.
 
My second reaction was that I was easily able to imagine a lot of women in Japan being embarrassed in such situations.  Many of my Japanese friends say that Japanese people are generally shy, but I don't really agree with them.  I've come to draw a distinction between shy and embarrassed, or somewhat easily embarrassed.  I see shyness as a personality trait that can exist regardless of how others see us.  When we feel shy, we feel bashful or reluctant regardless of how others react to us, or how we think they're reacting to us. . . Bashful people can meet fans or foes and still feel bashful.  Someone who is easily embarrassed, on the other hand, might possibly feel confident and grand when others hold him/her in high regard; but this person might shrink in the face of looking awkward, incompetent, uncool, or otherwise bad.  I don't know that being either shy or easily embarrassed is better or worse than the other, but I do think they're different conditions.

My third reaction was, "Why am I not embarrassed by having others hearing me urinate, but the other sounds. . .?"  Generally, I'd rather not emit gas or have others hear me doing Number 2; and yet, a Number 1 audible is no problem for me.  How arbitrary is that?  I really don't know. . .I really don't.

P.S. Otohime is also the name of a goddess in Japanese mythology, and of a character in the manga / anime series One Piece, which I love:

the autumn leaves, 紅葉 （こうよう、kouyou） and leaf peeping, 紅葉狩 (もみじがり、momijigari)

There's a single word in Japanese that describes the changing color of the leaves during autumn:

紅葉　（こうよう、kouyou）

Having grown up in Hawai'i, the autumn leaves are still kind of exciting for me.  I love seeing them in the parks, on the sidewalks as I make my way to school. . .I love stepping on them.  In Japanese culture, the term hanami describes a "cherry-blossom viewing party," for many people a reason to drink outdoors alongside hundreds of other people.  They're a pretty big deal.  I started wondering if we had corresponding autumn leaf-viewing parties.  At that point, some part of my mind recalled an episode of The West Wing (in Japan the show is called　"ザ・ホワイトハウス"), in which they use the term "leaf peeping."  I didn't know it but it's a real thing in America.  President Bartlet didn't know it either.  People go out and look at and take pictures of the changing colors of the leaves, and there's an official term for this.  The Wikipedia entry for leaf peeping is at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaf_peeping

and in that article, I found out that there is a Japanese equivalent, called momijigari (紅葉狩).  Travel agencies offer tours. 

This video came out kind of small (taken with my i-Phone), so it might be hard to see that they're trying to catch the leaves raining down on them.  If you full-screen it you should be able to see it a little better.


                    

animate

Continuing from yesterday's entry, right after the police stopped me to go through my wallet, I went on to breakfast, and later that Sunday came upon an event courtesy of Animate, a manga/animation store that seems pretty big here.  Ikebukuro has a couple of Animate buildings, and whenever I go there it's crowded.  I'm not sure what this event was about, but there were some cars.

 

This is one of the stores.

 

I'm not sure if this bus had anything to do with Animate, but maybe. . .The lady to the left seemed pretty ecstatic to have the picture.

That night, Animate was more packed than in the day.