Culture and Society: Kyoto

✿ Konnichiwa!

As we headed to the hotel in Kyoto, I noticed a statue. The statue is of a young boy holding what seems to be a bag of food and a dog that has pulled down the boy’s pants in an attempt to get to said food. The strangest thing about this is that the statue is not censored in the slightest. In Canada, there would be complaints made and immediate action would have been made to remove it. Here it seemed like a natural occurrence. This fascinated me as the Japanese give the impression of being a conservative country by the way they speak, eat, and dress. Is it only the women who have to be modest? I can only say that the Japanese are a very contradictory nation. 

The same is said for hygiene. In the washrooms there are tonnes of items to keep clean and sanitary; however, there is one particular thing missing: hand soap. The majority of restrooms do not have any type of soap to wash your hands. It seemed odd to me that a country fueled with hygiene etiquette would not have any soap. As I began to notice more, I realized another difference is when they cough or sneeze, most people do not cover their mouths. The number of people walking down the street with masks always alarmed me. Were there so many viruses in the air here? Instead I came to realize that the bad habits have caused individuals to take health matters into their own hands. 

Even so if you were to get sick, the doctors would have you on the way to recovering in a jiff. They are extremely efficient and knowledgeable. I was interested to find out that the doctors here rarely admit patients overnight. In western culture it is a common state to be “kept for observation.” 2.6 million people in Japan go to the hospital daily and only half of those people are hospitalized or stay overnight. When Sheila, Lucy, and Rebecca each went to emergency, I was amazed at how short a time it took as well as the efficiency of their care. Rebecca even told me they prescribed her something similar to T3’s, a very strong form of Tylenol, for her collarbone. These prescriptions would be frowned upon in Canada as they tend to be highly addictive and harmful if too much it consumed. It just goes to show how serious Japanese society is about health and wellness.

Sayonara!