License Plate Trivia

License plates* in Japan come in a variety of sizes and colors, with different marking to indicate different information about the car. Today we'll learn about some of the major differences in license plates and what they mean!
*(or registration plates, or number plates, or whatever your country calls them. :) )


Colors
The four major colors of license plates in Japan are white, yellow, black, and green. Yellow and white plates are for privately owned vehicles, while black and green are commercial plates. You'll notice, by the way, that the colors used on the commercial vehicle plates are an inversion of the colors used on their private vehicle counterparts.

Designs
Since 2009, municipalities in Japan have had the option to select custom colors and designs for plates issued to light vehicles with engines of 125cc or less. This mostly pertains to scooters and small motorcycles, but it also encompasses a category referred to as "minicars," which includes small four-wheeled road vehicles as well as some recreational vehicles like ATVs. (Minicars are in and of themselves a topic of interest. Be sure to check out our upcoming post on them as well!)

Illumination
You may have noticed that some license plates in Japan glow. In Japanese, they're called 字光式ナンバー. This is a legal, Land Transport Bureau sanctioned modification which can be requested by drivers at the time of their plates issuance. The issued plates do not illuminate themselves, but rather the numbers are made of translucent plastic; an illuminating device is placed behind the license plate and then usually wired in to activate when the car's headlamps are turned on.


Glowing license plates were originally adopted in Hokkaido in 1970 as a way to deal with snow sticking to plates. Rather than today's usage of illuminating LED or EL panels (like in the image here), incandescent bulbs were used. Heat from the bulbs melted snow off the plates and provided an additional benefit of being easier to see at night or in snowstorms.

Green translucent numbers are standard on these plates, but blue numbers became available in 2010. Some licensing authorities have also offered glowing plates for kei cars since 2002.

Numbers
In broad terms (the English and Japanese Wikipedia articles are happy to expound), the numbers you commonly see on the edges of plates, right after the region name, indicate the size classification of the car. For non-freight vehicles, the numbers are:
"2-series numbers" (that is, 20-29 and 200-298): Vehicles that can carry 11 or more passengers.
"3-series numbers": Full-sized cars that can carry fewer than 11 passengers.
"5-series numbers": Kei cars or white-plate cars (that would otherwise be 3-series numbers) meeting certain size requirements; less than 4700 mm in length, 1700 mm in width, 2000 mm in height, and engine capacity under 2000 cc. Interestingly, no passenger limit is described for the 5-series numbers, leading some manufacturers to design small buses and vans suitable for as many as 15 passengers (the 1980 Nissan Caravan, for example) yet still eligible for a 5-series number and its accompanying tax classification.
"7-series numbers": Formerly a special classification for three-wheeled vehicles, but now merely a continuation of the 5-series line.

Cars in public capacities, like police and fire brigade vehicles, use 8-series numbers.

Finally, some numbers (the actual vehicle identification numbers, not the vehicle size numbers) are restricted for use on Japanese license plates. Particularly of note are the combinations 42 and 49 at the end of plates, which are homophonically linked to Japanese words for death (死に) and "to run over" (轢く). The full sequences 42-19 (死に行く, "proceeding to death") and 42-56 (死に頃, "time to die") are similarly restricted.

Got your interest piqued? Check out our short about the special anti-theft screws holding the rear plate in place, as well.

Minicars

Maybe you're already aware of the major regulatory distinctions of cars in Japan: bigger cars with bigger engines get white license plates, smaller cars with smaller engines get yellow "kei" plates, and scooters and the like get even littler plates. But there's another, less common classification... or perhaps "loophole" is a more fitting term. It's called a ミニカー (minicar).


Minicars Defined
Minicars are little-engined things (that is, 50 cc or less) that also meet one of the following definitions:

-Having at least three wheels and an axle track of at least 51 cm, with or without an interior cabin
-Having at least four wheels and an interior cabin, and an axle track smaller than 51 cm
-Having exactly three wheels, an interior cabin, and an axle track smaller than 51 cm

...wait, what? Why go to the trouble of distinguishing the first and third definitions? Well, this is where the minicar gets tricky. See, some scooters (aka. mopeds, 原付 gentsuki) have three wheels. You may have seen them on the road delivering pizzas or takoyaki or whatever delivery food is in style in your region. They've got three wheels, a little awning and windshield to keep the rain out, and a lockbox on the back that can be filled up with delicious traveling foodstuffs. But the government wants to insist that these are not minicars. They're just heavily modified gentsuki.

License to Drive
And that means that only a gentsuki license (different from a car license in that it can more cheaply and easily obtained, at 16 years of age instead of 18) is required to drive them, a helmet is required while riding on one, and they must follow the special gentsuki driving restrictions such as always staying below 30 km/h and making hook turns at designated intersections.

(A minicar, on the other hand, requires a standard car license, no helmet, can run at up to 60 km/h if its engine can handle it, and may make right-hand turns as a car does.)

The standard license, by the way, is required because a minicar is potentially able to, unlike a gentsuki, have a round steering wheel, travel in reverse, and occupy a full lane while driving. And because of the license required, a minicar's driver must display the 初心者 (shoshinsha) mark if he or she has been driving on a standard license for less than a year.

Traffic Infractions
Driving a minicar thus also carries more legal responsibility than driving a scooter: Traffic infractions are handled the same as infractions in a white- or yellow-plate car. Penalties while on a gentsuki are lighter. And though gentsuki drivers are treated as pedestrians when they disengage their vehicle's engine and walk it, this is not the case for a minicar. Neither minicars nor gentsuki can legally carry passengers or drive on expressways.

Insurance and Tax
Minicars are cheaper to insure and are taxed less than normal cars, but they're a bit more expensive than their scooter counterparts. For comparison:

	1000cc White Plate	Kei Car	Minicar	50cc Scooter*
Auto Tax (Annual)	￥29,500	￥7,200	￥2,500	￥1,000
Weight Tax (3 yrs.)	￥37,800	￥13,200	None	None
Compulsory Insurance (3 yrs.)	￥39,260	￥31,540	￥13,400	￥13,400
Avg. Annual Tax	￥55,187	￥22,113	￥6,967	￥5,467

*Larger Class-2 (51-90cc) and Class-3 (91-125cc) gentsuki have slightly greater annual tax.

Neither the gentsuki nor the minicar require 車検証 (shakensho), eliminating need for obnoxious biennial 車検 (shaken) gamuts and verification of a parking space by your local police authority.

Minicars, to wrap things up, get a special blue license plate. I mean, come on. Blue! Plenty of Japanese people don't even know that color of plate exists! If you've ever wanted to own an ATV in Japan, this is the classification under which it will be licensed. Yes, it will therefore be legal to drive on the road (up to 60 km/h, hah) and no, apparently you're not legally required to have a helmet on.

Phew. The vast majority of this information comes thanks to this very informative page on distinctions among Japanese license plates. If you haven't already, be sure to check out our AccessJ post entitled "License Plate Trivia" as well.

Japanese Pen Spinning Tricks

If you work in a school in Japan, you've probably seen your students flipping their pens around their thumbs or some other such trick. When I was at school, we just punched each other for fun... ah, well.

Anyway, I was curious and looked it up. I like sharing, so here you are.

Read on to not only watch some funky videos, but also find out how to do some tricks yourself.

First thing I found out: there are tons of these tricks.
Second thing: it's kind of dorky. A bit like those mini finger-skateboards that used to be popular.

Here's a popular video of people spinning their pens:



There are tons of instructional videos out there, so just follow this link for a selection on YouTube.

Here's a summary of some of the basic moves to get you started, from some pen nerd going by the name KTrihn93 on YouTube:

Thumbaround

Finger Pass

Sonic

Charge

How to Take a Poop in Japan (Kids' version)

...here are some videos teaching you all about the wonders of taking a poo in a grown-up toilet.

For adults having trouble, don't forget to check out our "How to Take a Crap in Japan" post.

Wiping troubles, too? AccessJ's got you covered...

How to use a toilet for wees and poos

How to get all that pesky poo off your bum

Alternative to the first video, featuring a kangaroo...

Q&A: Osaka Nampa Master

Nampa is the Japanese term for guys picking up on girls in public locations, usually with the sole aim of getting them into bed. A whole subculture has sprung up around the word, and akin to titles like "How to Talk to Women" and "How to Make Someone Fall in Love With You in 6.7 Seconds" in English bookstores and across English webpages, "How to Nampa" is a term probably every magazine with a 20-something male target audience in Japan has published articles about.


In today's Q&A, we read up on the adventures of one particular Nampa artist, "Shimada," in the Osaka area, who is perhaps a bit past his prime at 30-odd years old but still updates his blogs with specific Nampa success stories in various places around the country. The basic routine seems to be: Truck out to somewhere for an afternoon, invite women out on the street to go for a drink, then escort whomever accepted the bait to a love hotel, leaving early enough to catch the last train home.

Ouch. That's right. He doesn't even want to wake up next to her.

Anyway, let's take a look at some of the tricks of the trade!

---

So there I am, in a cheap izakaya.
The girl I'm scoping is like this:

Age: 21
Blood Type: B
Occupation: Medical Secretary
Name: "Saori"

I sidle up to her and say, "So, this is the place to be, huh?"
She laughs at me.
The izakaya we're in is famous in Osaka for being dirt-cheap.
It's got a name like something-"factory."

Anyway, so we toast with beers, then I introduce myself and make some empty small talk.
We talk about her job...
Saori apparently doesn't want to work at all.
She thinks work is a waste of her life, so I tell her what's up.

There's nothing not worth doing in this whole world.
You only make a decision that something's worthless.
A person's wisdom is in how they find meaning in and ascribe value to the things they do.

I know I have her.

I'm completely full of myself.
'Cause this is first-rate stuff, right?
Even though I, Shimada, am a fourth-rate human being.

Anyway, I'm already pretty drunk.
I've been drinking since I started scoping chicks in the afternoon.

Next we talk about love...
...and I shut her down on that topic as fast I can.

Next we talk about dirty stuff...
...and I keep that going as long as I can.

By the time we know it, it's 9 p.m.
By my CVP Analysis, I arrive at a conclusion.

(What's a CVP Analysis?
C = Shimada
V = Victory
P = Project
It's what I call analyzing how much a chick digs me, and coming up with an action plan for the night by catching the subtle changes in her mood.)

So I say to her, "Let's make the after-party a 'Snack Party'!"

(What's a "Snack Party"?
You buy a bunch of cookies and potato chips at a convenience store then take her to a love hotel to eat them.)

Saori loves snacks.
So she's totally into the idea.

We leave the izakaya and buy some stuff at the nearest convenience store.

"Where're we gonna have the party?" she asks.

"At karaoke," I tell her.

"We can take snacks into a karaoke room?" she asks.

I say, "Oh, you're right... How about we have it at my summer house then?"

"Where is it?" she looks at me.

"Follow me!"

And we're off.
We hold hands all the way to the love hotel.

I'm stoked.
There have been so many stupid things happening since this year started.
So, finally... Finally...

But!
Turns out it's not so easy.

When we get in front of the "summer house," Saori, as expected, gets cold feet and starts whining.
(What a pain.)

"What's the matter?" I ask her. "You aren't thinking of something naughty, are you? Saori, you're such a terrible girl."

I remember saying something like...

"I hear this place is modeled on a storehouse in a town on the edge of the Mediterranean, and I've wanted to see it myself once." (We'd talked about how we're both interested in the Roman Empire at the izakaya. I'm not really, though.)

And I remember saying something like...

"This isn't even a hotel! It's a party space!"

Then finally I swore, "I won't do anything," and we pinky promised on it, and we went inside.

(What's a pinky promise?
It's some magic charm. You cross pinkies on a promise and if you break the promise you have to eat a thousand needles. Except, apparently if you break the promise nothing bad actually happens...)

By now it's already 9:30!
I'm almost out of time!

The second we're inside the "party space," I've got my hands all over her.
She protests, but I keep at it and suddenly there's this dramatic change in her.
I mean, wow.
So things get going, and the snacks we bought sit there unopened.

Then it's past 10, and time for the party to end.
I make a dash for the subway, barely making it home by 11.

It's an hour past my curfew, but I'm met at home with a kind smile.
...which is scarier than the old lady getting mad at me.

Her retaliation comes the next day at dinner.
All that's on my plate is a pile of veggies, while she enjoys homemade fried chicken.

Q&A: Dating Younger Men

Last time on Q&A, we talked about lecherous old men and how they will pay young women to do terrible things like write friendly e-mails for money in this country. Today let's turn the tables a bit and look at a self-help guide for Japanese women hoping to make it with a younger guy.

How to Skillfully Date a Younger Guy

1. Don't Hurt His Pride

Guys are prideful things, huh? And for a couple with an older woman, it seems like the woman is always taking the lead.

But at the same time, she'll accidentally say things like "I can't count on you," or "It's not like you'll be able to anyway, so just let me handle it" without thinking about it.

Especially in front of other people, be absolutely sure not to take an attitude that makes him feel unappreciated. If you look down on him, you'll deeply wound his pride.

2. Don't Overdo Anything

Younger boyfriends are cute because there's something helpless and uncertain about them. If he's troubled by something, most of us just want to give him a hand and help him out, right?

At first, he might smile, and you'll feel happy for making him feel that way. But if you continue helping him at every problem, he'll start to take it for granted that you'll do everything for him.

Then rather than being a couple, you'll be like his mom. No matter how overjoyed you were to be taking care of him at first, you'll find yourself dissatisfied and saying things like, "I'm not your mother! And I'm not your maid!"

This isn't a good relationship to be in. So, to make sure it doesn't happen, you need to be careful about lending him a hand or taking care of things for him too often.

3. Get Good at Depending on Him

In a couple with an older woman and a younger man, the woman always seems to be the stronger one in the relationship. And among those couples there are some where the woman is clumsy about finding ways for herself to depend on the man.

Guys like to be relied upon! They want you to let them take care of things! When they spend time with a woman that lets them do those things, they think you're cute and want to protect you.

So even if in daily life you're taking the lead in your relationship, you need to let yourself be coddled.

Conclusion

Not only for couples with an age difference but for all couples it's important to think about each other's wants and feelings. We all want to be in relationships that make both people feel good, right?

...
......

So there you have it: The #2 Google ranking and one-stop-font-of-knowledge for "How to Date Younger Guys" in Japanese. If you haven't encountered the Japanese in Point 3 before, this might be a good chance to take note of it:

The Japanese verb 甘える (amaeru), loosely meaning "to express dependence on another," is a cultural phenomenon discussed extensively by Japanese psychoanalyst Takeo Doi in his book The Anatomy of Dependence (甘えの構造). Among Doi's insights in the book is the idea that Japanese are born into then aspire to an ideal state in which they are indulgent in the goodwill of all those around them. Doi suggests that the Japanese language reflects this ideal with its customary use of keigo and teineigo used to address both infants and people in position of high social status, from grandparents to company executives.

Whether you think Doi has some good points or dismiss it as a bunch of bunk, 甘える remains a well-known and well-used word and concept in Japan that can be difficult to express concisely in English.

Have any thoughts about it? Screams of rage about the slanted views on older women babying oedipal boyfriends only to later scold them for acting like an actual child? As usual, we welcome you to share in the comments below. :)

More Cool Symbol Typing

Last week we showed you a bunch of words you can type and turn into cute symbols using the default Japanese IME dictionaries. Although a lot of symbols are programmed in to Windows and other operating systems' IMEs by default, there are still thousands upon thousands more symbols waiting to be used in the Unicode character set.

Today we'll take a look at how you can browse through all the available symbols.



Character Map

The usual way to access all symbols in a font is the character map (also called the character palette) for your operating system. In Japanese, it's called the 文字コード表.

The character map in Windows can be accessed from the Start menu. It's under "Accessories" then "System Tools."

You can also get to it quickly by pushing the Windows Key + R, then typing charmap into the box that appears.

Once the character map appears, select the font you use, then scroll to find the symbol you want to use. By pushing the "select" (選択) button then the "copy" (コピー) buttons in the bottom-right, you can copy any symbol to your clipboard and use the paste command to insert it anywhere else.

This method is more cumbersome than the default dictionary definitions we talked about last time, of course, but it allows access to every available symbol in a given font (including, coincidentally, every kanji).

The character palette in Mac, by the way, is apparently activated with command + option + T.

IME Symbol Catalog

As comprehensive as the character map, but slightly more organized, is the catalog of symbols contained within Windows' Japanese IME. To access this catalog, start typing something in Japanese, then without hitting enter, push the F5 key. The symbol catalog will pop-up and you can browse through the various categories of symbols and kanji conversions. The icons discussed above can generally be found under the folder called "その他の記号."

The same catalog can also be accessed from the IME toolbar, usually displayed at the bottom-right of the desktop on Japanese-enabled machines. With a text-input field selected, click on the icon that looks like a paint bucket to open up the IME Pad. The symbol catalog is the second icon on the left-hand side of the pad.

The drawback of these methods is the amount of effort required each time you want to find and insert a symbol. If there are certain symbols you want to be able to insert quickly at any time, but they aren't defined in the default IME dictionaries, you can use your IME's User Dictionary! A User Dictionary is used to register names, words, and symbols that you use often when typing Japanese but which aren't contained in a default conversion dictionary. We'll discuss editing the User Dictionary in a future post!

Type Cool Icons with the Japanese IME

If you've skimmed over many message boards or blogs in Japanese, you may notice some users adding cute little symbols to their sentences, like little stars (★), musical notes (♪), or umbrellas (☂). These symbols are part of the Unicode character set, and with the help of this guide, you'll be able to type them, too!


There are a few methods for writing these symbols. Today we'll start with the easiest method, which is learning the Japanese terms for symbols predefined in the default Windows conversion dictionary. (Was that a mouthful? I mean to say, "We'll tell you a bunch of the symbols you can write from your Japanese without having to do anything technical.")

This guide assumes you are using Windows as your operating system. However, the same icons should be available regardless of your operating system, as long as the font you are using supports them. Linux and Mac systems have character palettes, too, and their IMEs can be "taught" how to type these characters from defined keystrokes, too.

Anyway, on to the main course:

Predefined Symbols
For starters, some of these symbols are already programmed into the Japanese IME.
If you type the word for "star" in Japanese, ほし, then push spacebar to convert it, you'll find that not only is the kanji for star, 星, available, but so are the icons ★ and ☆, among others.

Here is a list of some simple predefined symbols in Windows' IME dictionary.
Just typing the hiragana on the left should create the symbol(s) on the right!

Type in:	To get these icons!
やじるし	↑　→　↓　←　⇔　⇒
ほし	☆　★　＊　※
まる	●　○　◎　㊥　㊨　①  etc.
しかく	■　◆　□　◇
さんかく	▲　▼　△　▽　∴　∵
おんぷ	♪
にょろ	～
ゆうびん	〒
あまり	…
おす	♂
めす	♀
おなじ	々　ゝ　ゞ　ヾ　〃
すうがく	＝　≠　±　∞　∑　√　etc.
かぶしきがいしゃ	㈱　㏍
へいせい	㍻
でんわ	℡
たんい	％　€　℃　㌔　㍍　㎡ etc.
きごう	hundreds of symbols

This list is not comprehensive, by the way. There are dozens of other words recorded into the default Windows IME dictionary and linked to symbols as well as kanji. This is just a taste of some interesting or useful commands. Here is one much more comprehensive (and overwhelming) list of symbols for those interested.

And, as mentioned before, if you aren't using Windows, or if you are using a different version of Windows (this list is current for Vista and 7, using the Office IME 2007), some of the words here may not produce the same symbols as shown above.

Next time, we'll talk about a couple ways to access all symbols in the Unicode character set, whether they've been programmed into the IME or not. Stay tuned!

How to Take a Crap in Japan

Japanese toilets come in three guises.

1. a toilet
2. a hyper-toilet with loads of buttons etc (well founded stereotype)
3. squatty potty

In times of old (20 years ago or something), most number 2s were done in number 3s. Nowadays, you'll still find squatties in most train stations, country schools and other public facilities. Some people go on about squatties being good for your rectum or something, but to be honest I think you'll be fine either way. At least with a regular toilet there's little risk of urinating in your own pocket.

Anyway, below is my deftly illustrated guide on how to correctly operate over such a thing.

Step 1: Get totally naked. This is optional, but my friend couldn't go any other way for fear of messing himself up.

Step 2: Squat facing the raised end and fittings.

Step 3: Poop. Peeing is also acceptable.

Step 4: Flush. Wiping is also a popular preceding step.

Job done. Get dressed if necessary.


As an addendum, you would do well to note two things:

1. We Westerners are not well adapted to the flat-foot squatting which Asians do a lot. Luckily, the metal fittings on the front of the toilet serve well as handles should you need them.
2. Those same metal fittings are reflective. Do NOT look at them unless you want to see the very worst your body has to offer.

Happy shitting!

Q&A: Daddy Long Legs

Welcome to the first installment of our Q&A series.

Today we hear from a young woman who received monthly bank transfers over 6 years from an absolute stranger she met over the Internet in exchange for sending him daily diary entries. After breaking off communication with the man, she wonders if she should feel obligated to repay the money back to him even though he hasn't asked her to.

Let's hear what the Internet has to say!

Hi, I'm posting for the first time. I'm a female university freshman.

When I was a first-year junior high school student, I was bullied a lot. I couldn't say anything to my parents about it, and instead I confided in an older man who I met through the Internet. He was in his 50s and told me he had a strained home life.

My hobby was reading, and the man I met taught me more about how to escape into the world of books. He started sending me money so I could buy new books. (I didn't have a good concept of the danger at the time and freely shared my personal info. I wish I hadn't now.)

He was so happy when I started e-mailing him daily to talk about the things going on in my life or my thoughts about the books that I read. Soon he was sending me about 10,000 yen ($100) per month. I managed my own bank account, and my parents were always busy with work, so I was able to use the money without them noticing. I used it to purchase books and later even enrolled at a juku when it was time to prepare for high school entrance exams.

I became a high school student and got a lot of new friends. When I told the man how it was hard to ask my parents to pay for me to go on field trips with my school club, he sent me the money. My club went on a lot of field trips, and between that and the tuition of a prep school I attended in the evening, I was receiving 30,000 yen ($300) per month.

The man loved to hear about my daily events as a high school student, and he told me he thought of me as his daughter. The relationship reminded me of Daddy-Long-Legs, but I didn't think about it too much.

After high school, I moved to Tokyo for college. Other girls at the school were big into fashion and it was a bad influence on me. I started asking for extra money from the man, which I used to buy clothes and accessories. At some point I think he got fed up with the way I was acting because he stopped replying to my e-mails.

When I realized this, I rethought my spending habits. I feel like I've forgotten who I really am. And now I'm just overwhelmed with self-disgust.

From now on, so I can be truly independent, I'm going to start working part-time and use scholarship money to pay for school, no matter how hard it is. I don't want to accept any money from anyone else ever again. I see that the way things are now isn't good for myself, and my warped sense of money is only going to hurt me.

So I want to ask: If my benefactor demanded I return the money I accepted from him all those years, am I obligated to return it? We have had no physical relationship, and we've only met each other one time.

Maybe this story is hard to believe, but I really need an answer. Just assuming this kind of situation, what are my responsibilities in regard to the money?
Thank you.

---

First post. 

If you really wanted to give the money back, you wouldn't have made a post like this in the first place. I think you're just being inconsistent.

Sorry if I offended you.

It's OK. I'm not offended. When I first drafted the post, I didn't think it was very coherent. I felt like I needed to explain the parts that were hard to understand. So, that last question was me trying to be more clear.

You're right. If I'm worried about whether I'm obligated to return the money, that must mean I don't want to return it. I'm just making excuses now, but the total sum of money I received from this man is enormous. If I'm obligated to pay it back then there must be some kind of deadline to do that by, and if that's the case I have to think about stuff like revealing this to my parents or quitting school to work full time so I can pay it off.

---

The money was a gift and you don't have any legal obligation to return it. Besides, it's not like a guy with that kind of personality is going to demand you return it in the first place.

But, the way you feel means something. Are you a mooch?

There was a part of me that thought it was natural for him to be sending me money. I think that's why I was able to use it to buy clothes and stuff. I should have been thinking about what it meant that he was giving me his hard-earned money.

I want to become the kind of person that he can feel glad he invested in. I don't think I have any value to be thought of like that now.

That's why this is so painful for me!

---

Well, Internet, you certainly never fail to impress! I hope everything worked out OK for this girl, especially after everyone blatantly ignored the fact that she spent her entire teenage life supported by a man 40 years her senior and this arrangement was completely concealed from her parents and teachers. And she intends to keep the secret barring impending financial disaster.

I want to express nothing but support for the trending of her strong moral compass; I just wonder why it was so easy for everyone to get past the initial premise of her situation. It never dawns on the parents that she never asks them for money but goes on every school trip and brings home an armload of books every month. The secret benefactor, who was romantic in Judy's case (in the book Daddy Long Legs) because she didn't have any parents, is played down by all the respondents as if relationships between adolescent girls and middle-aged men are as a rule totally natural, innocuous affairs. (That's foreshadowing for a future Q&A post, by the way!)

If you have any comments or screams of outrage, please share below!

A Proper Look at Japanese Face Masks

One of the things many people associate with Japanese people is the face mask.

People who have asked me about this generally think it's something to do with not being subjected to other people's germs, but also that they are largely ineffective.

This blog will give you the full facts!!!!!!!!!!!

First of all, the masks worn by many nations in SE Asia are usually used to contain the wearer's own illness, not protect against the ghastly cooties of strangers. This is something of a moral responsibility for the wearer. That's not to say that many people don't wear them as protection from other people, pollen etc. too. In fact, some people even reportedly wear one if they can't be bothered to put their makeup on.

Although the effectiveness as a shield is often debated (although backed by some studies), for keeping your germs to yourself masks seem pretty handy. The added bonus of hindering an unconscious dirty finger in the mouth or nose also gets a thumbs up.

Many mask manufacturers claim their masks have a 99% germ stop rate, but the National Consumer Affairs Centre of Japan ran some tests which put the figure more in the region of 95% to as low as 50%, which still seems pretty high to me when compared to nothing. Japan Probe also covered this, and commented that the lower end of that estimate is applicable to masks which don't fit your head properly.

It's also important to note that apparently after something in the region of 0.5-3 hours, the dampness caused by respiration makes the masks dramatically less effective and they must be changed.

Regardless, given that the masks themselves are so cheap (a box of 50 can be found for around 400 yen) and do seem to work to a certain extent, I'm all for them.

There are many different mask types and styles, including tiny little pads which just about fit over your mouth and nose and look more like a miniature face-bra than anything else. You can also buy, of course, cute versions: purple and black pig-noses, whiskery cat faces, Rilakuma designs etc etc.

More

• This kind of hygiene-conscious practice can also be seen elsewhere in Japan. For example, karaoke booths mostly offer plastic wrapped, sterilised microphones, most shops will have an alcohol squirter for your hands at the entrance and exit of the store, and bank machines will nearly always dispense sterile, crisp banknotes (that's why they all look new)!
• The Annals of Internal Medicine published a report which claimed that masks did indeed reduce the risk of catching influenza from others.
• If you're interested, some guy has written a review post about various different flu masks he bought...
• The ever-ready Japan Probe has two vaguely humourous flu-mask video commercials from Japanese TV. 
• As Danny Choo pointed out on Boingboing.net, you can also buy plugs for your nose if you have a cold. Less effective at limiting germs, but you need never worry about drippy nostrils again! Just beware of firing them across the room when you sneeze.