my notice about toilet :)

pretty long time ago we talked about the topic : Japanese toilet, that came
from Kelsee's blog (I think it's before new year). And after that I think I've
started paying more attention to restroom and found out some different
behavior between people my country and Japanese. Many times I walked in
the toilet and see that the toilet lid was closed. First time I was so nervous to
open to use it because in my country, if the lid is closed that's mean it's broken
somehow and might not be able to flood. Normally people won't open it and
(because it might have something you don't want to see inside :p) just change
to another room. But now I'm kind of get used to this behavior of Japanese, if
I see the lid is closed, just open and the toilet's still ready to use. :)

Anyway, I still have a question on it, just want to know the reason why some
Japanese people close the lid after they use it. What are they thinking ?

Another point came up when I went to Osaka during winter break. Normally
we can find toilet in almost every convenient store here in Kumamoto, but
thing is totally different in Osaka, really surprised that I didn't find even one
convenient store that have a toilet for random people to use !!!!!. (but I can
find it in Kobe and Kyoto) So I talked about this to my friend and she said
the toilet in convenient store can tell you if that area is safe or not ! If the
place is safe they normally have a toilet for you to use, and if not, that means
the place is pretty dangerous. Because convenient store's toilet is the popular
place for crime, such as rape and pillage.

I can understand this point, but somehow I still wonder if it's a real
reason or not. Does Japanese really solve the crime problem this way?

cuteness

Purikura, thing that's satisfy girls who need to be cute :)



Last week we talked about why Japanese girl want to stay 'cute (cawaii)' even when
they growup over teenage. In my opinion, I think the most important influence is
'GUY' (I remembered Alex tried to say something about this topic too.) May be it's
Asian way of thinking because this happens in Thailand as well. Guys prefer to cute
girls more than girls that look smart, strong, or sexy. I think, it's because in cuteness
(in the way of Japanese or Thai) include some feeling like fragile or yield inside.
That's a key. Even now people say man and woman are equal, it's still not exactly.
the way I feel, men still want to be a leader and cannot accept women's smartness
in some reason. They still want to be over and protector, and cute girl make
them feel that way.


That's why guys normally like cute girls in Asia,

and that's why girl want to be cute.

7.10.2011 : Kumamon

We had discussion about Kumamon !
I love that, really update and interesting topic,

I'm one of Kumamon's fan, we (me and my exchange student friends)
went to join Kumamon exercise event at Kumamoto castle on last Sunday,
and it's pretty cool, nice weather and so many people there. It's really good
to see how Japanese spend their family time, and I love kids
(Japanese kid is so adorable :) )


(so many people came for kumamon)



(everyone love cartoon characters)


In class, we had discussion about the way Kumamon's promoted,
and showed the opinion that it's overboard or not. And we watched video
about donation that used Doraemon as an ambassador. One thing I strongly
feel from this topic is Japanese people seriously love in Cartoon. It's my first
time I saw people used cartoon character to ask for donation. (In Thailand,
we donate when we feel to help without any incentive, or in case we really
need to persuade people, we usually superstar or celebrity for that, )
Sure, everyone love cartoon, but it's a bit surprised me to donate
money because cartoon character asked for it.

Almost people I met love cartoon when they were a kids, and that feeling
was left behind when we grow up. But, Japanese people is not in this case.

It's interesting, and I'm still wondering why?
How Japanese people feel to cartoon?

Is it possible that cartoon can create some specific character to Japanese people?