Relief is at hand!

[Taro Toporific]

Welcome to the 20th Century!

Train firms clean up act with free toilet paper
Relief is at hand for passengers using JR East and JR West services: The companies have decided to roll out a new customer convenience-toilet paper. After years of complaints from passengers, East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) and West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) will begin stocking free toilet paper in restrooms at 562 stations along their routes before the end of March. ---- The Asahi Shimbun 12 Feb 03

[img]http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:vGCGR5g-uDoC:www.illlogic.net/images/japan2002/spaceballs-the-toilet-paper-6-05.jpg][/img]SOFT toilet paper Art of Hot

[Big Booger]

nope, you are expected to bring your own.. or use your hand :P Maybe that is why Japanese bow rather than shake hehehe
BB

[Taro Toporific]

You mean they didn't before?

It's a random B.Y.O. affair. You have to guess whether to BYO some advertising TP or pay 10yen from a vending machine (the machine is a hint that TP may not be provided). See, the website: The Japanese Washroom Experience

Oh, and in a train station bathroom, there is no toilet paper. You're supposed to have your own, usually because you were accosted by one of the many people waiting around outside to hand you little packs of kleenex (there are ads printed on the kleenex packs, but they know you're only taking them because someday you will walk into a bathroom and there will be no paper. It's really clever on the advertisers' parts.) So really, you have trouble because you remember there's no toilet paper, have to dig around in your bag for your kleenex ad pack, and then have to try to get it open one-handed while clinging to the rail [of the squat toilet] for balance - you get the idea.
Most gaijin women studiously avoid these set-into-the-floor stalls and learn very quickly what the kanji is for 'Western Style Toilet'

[Jack]

A question to the experts. Though I go to Japan often, I have never figured out the proper etiquette in toilet issues. Do I stand my face to the wall or to the door? And not having tissue paper is rather annoying when you are not familiar with the system and you discover the lack thereof after the fact.

[den4]

was from the chindogu book 101 Unuseless Inventions...cool book filled with chindogu stuff....

if you find the book, check out the very unuseful swiss army knife that has garden tools in it....

[American Oyaji]

jack, Im not sure what your question is,
But see above illustration.

My first time having to "go" in Tokyo, I found this out the hard way.

Fortunately I had taken some tissue on the street and it was in my bag cuz I had an allergy attack that day. Usually I just ignore the tissues.

LUCKY!!

[GomiGirl]

was from the chindogu book 101 Unuseless Inventions...cool book filled with chindogu stuff....

if you find the book, check out the very unuseful swiss army knife that has garden tools in it....

I think I have it in storage in Aus.. it is hilarious!! Does it have a picture of a gold stilletto shoe with rollerskates on the cover?

[GomiGirl]

Mostly the tissue giver-outerers don't hand them to FG.. I have been known to raid their box of stock which is always close by.. I haven't bought tissues in years!!

[Steve Bildermann]

[GomiGirl]

[kamome]

I knew a guy who was offended whenever he was ignored by the people giving out freebies on the street. If they didn't stick one in his face, he would then stop and ask a ton of questions: "What are you giving away?", "Why didn't you offer me one?", "Do you have something against gaijin?", etc.

I used to be offended by that as well, until I realized it was a relief not to be accosted on the street. I'd rather not have something shoved in my face (tissues excepted, of course; why weren't there any tissues being handed out this morning at the train station while I was fighting a runny nose?).

[Taro Toporific]

I knew a guy who was offended whenever he was ignored by the people giving out freebies on the street...

A cho-ketchi FG friend I know "well," always demanded free hand-outs... until one day he yowled at the cute girls in the white miniskirts for Kleenex and got Tampax.

[Jack]

I think some of you guys are too sensitive, you should lighten up a bit. I never get the impression that they avoid handing me the tissue papers on the streets given that the young guys and cute girls are more than eager to finish off their boxes and go home (or out on a date). When they don't hand me out something I often think that it must be a female themed promotion so I just ignore.

For all you Americans and maybe even you Gai, I read about discrimination when in Japan. I have also encountered that in taxis mostly but I am glad you are being discriminated against because you now know how it feels to be a foreigner in the US. The discrimination you encounter in Japan is nothing compared with the US.

[Big Booger]

They discriminate. Farking Japanese racists.
BB

[cstaylor]

I have also encountered that in taxis mostly but I am glad you are being discriminated against because you now know how it feels to be a foreigner in the US. The discrimination you encounter in Japan is nothing compared with the US.

Are you speaking from personal experience? Where and when in the U.S. have you been discriminated against as a foreigner?

[Jack]

I'm a white guy and speak fluent English. Not a problem for me. My ex-girlfriend, Japanese and accented English, she was discriminated big time at work. In fact, she is presently in middle of a lawsuit in which she alleges she was discriminated against.

Let's not get in this "in-the-US-none-of-this-happens-because-we-are-perfect" debate. Fact is, there is not much more discrimination in Japan than there is in the US. It just happens to be in the open in Japan.

[Gaisaradatsuraku!]

Jack, Jack,

You obviously have never spent a lot of time in Japan. Not much more discrimination in Japan than in the US? Excuse me, but would you please point to any company listed on the first section of the Tokyo stock exchange and tell me how many board members are not Japanese ethnic males. Zero would be a good estimate. Pretty different situation in America. Ever hear of an affirmative action policies for Koreans? Ever notice any initiative to integrate the rather large foreign population of Koreans and Chinese or burakumin or Ainu? No... Can't say that I have either. Hells bells man many third generation immigrants can't even get permanent citizenship (w/o citizenship these folks are denied the ability to get professional licenses, etc.). Many health clubs won't take Koreans/Chinese making Augusta's male only policy look positively forward thinking.

The fact is that there is a lot more discrimination in Japan than there is in America and the situation would be further exacerbated if they had any form of open door policy re immigration.

Also, surely you don't believe that less discrimination exists in Canada than the U.S. Frankly, Canada basically is the U.S. Maybe your ex-girlfriend had some bad experience or maybe she was just looking for trouble or hypersensitive. So many of the Japanese I meet in the West tend to make wild assumptions about how different we are from Japan and they think that the world should be open to them just for the asking. It takes a lot of hard work to succeed in the U.S. It could be that she didn't do well because of a variety of factors including interpersonal issues that have nothing to do with her race.

[Jack]

Gai,

I knew that my post would excite you. If I say that there is less discrimination in Canada than in the US I know that may sound like my father is stronger tha n your father, so I wont go there. Suffice to say that in Canada we have a Prime Minsiter who speaks neither of the country's official languages fluently. Over half the population (55%) in Toronto is born outside of Canada. If all the Chinese people (both from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) living in Toronto were put in a separate city, that would make it the third largest city in Canada.

My ex-girlfriend's company was stupid enough to tell her in internal e-mails that such and such client was requesting an American person, not a foreign national for projects.

But going back to Japan, think about the sleazy Turkish, Iranian and other bastards in Shibuya and Harajuku selling counterfeit telephone cards. Or the foreigners like Chinese people commiting crimes because the Japanese are so docile. I understand and I accept the level of discrimination going on in that country. When they find out that I am not a crook and I can take a bath like them or eat whatever they serve me and can communicate in their language, a lot of the negative sentiment disappears. I don't march into Tokyo like Perry did and demand that I be treated like an amperor. Humility and humbleness gets you farther in Japan.

Like I said, discrimination is open in Japan and hidden in the US. The corporate boards are a case in point. I did not check but I assume 100% of board members in japan are Japanese males. In the US, that would be 97.5% white American males. To me that's the same. Yes, some companies will sprinkle a woman and the smart ones will pick a black woman. Or if you want to be even more pragmatic you can get a handicaped black woman. But everyone knows that's just for show. Anyway, have a nice day.

[Jack]

Gai,

Just to put your theory to the test, I met a J-girl in my town last weekend and while doing it I asked if I could photograph her. I took all kinds of shots. Sorry, I knew I said I was going to stop but ...

[Gaisaradatsuraku!]

Sorry for the late reply. You are challenged on two fronts. First of all you obviously have never flipped an annual report for a USCO. You definitely will not find that the average Fortune 500 company has 97.5% white males. Of course now you will say the rest are just tokens. Maybe to a certain extent but even if that is true it is undeniably better to have a few tokens and start tearing down the walls than to do what Japan is still doing today. Japan is at least 50 years behind the US.

Furthermore, when you move down the ranks of companies in the US you will definitely find a lot of minorities in positions of power. I work with a lot of the US investment banks and let me tell you it is like revenge of the cab drivers. The number of Jones/Smith/Schwartz in the new classes is incredibly low. Far more common are the Chens/Balaz/Abduls. You name it. None of these folks are tokens either. If they are they won't last long.

Find me one Chen/Abdul working an ordinary job in Nomura Securities and I will pay you that $10,000 we talked about.

Furthermore, I respectfully add (WOW!) that you are one of those foreigners who comes to Japan for a few weeks and goes home thinking you know the deal. My friend, when you are in Japan you are the guest. You are judging Japan by how its service people treat you. Soooo.,..they accept you at the sento, restaurant....very impressive. You tellin' me that the Japanese don't get the same treatment (or anyone) in the US? Huh?

Just because the desk clerks, the waitresses, the bellboys, etc. cowtow to you don't think for one minute that you are being accepted on equal terms. Your money is being accepted. It's easy to be duped however, because Japan's service quality is second to none and they do know how to make you feel good (however, the service you get at a truly first class establishment in the West is often better - exception: department stores).

Lastly, re your comments on the Black Ships. Don't go there sir. America opened up Japan to trading by force because it had to in the game of global chess. America was not even the foremost world power at the time. If you know your history you will know that and you will know that, in particular, the UK was rapidly colonizing whatever territory it could in Asia for its own power. We forced the Japanese to let us use their ports and to stop lopping the heads of our sailors off but that is about all we did at the time. America did not declare war on Japan. We did not ply its peasants with opium (as other countries did). We did not subjugate the people in spite of the fact that it would have been childsplay to do so and we did not grab a piece for ourselves (as other countries did with China by demanding Hong Kong).

My God, Jack. Don't you realize that America doesn't pummel people for fun? If we did why after WWII didn't we just make Japan a colony (like Japan did of its foreign foes ). Indeed why didn't America crush Japan economically like Europe did to Germany after WWI. Why? Because our leaders have generally been forward thinkers and understand that overt powerplays are foolish. I might add that America is the first country in world history to not use its power to subjugate the world. Jack, if America were a greedy power hungry nation you would be dead. Your welcome! (I am just responding to your exclamantions of gratitude towards my country).

Bye!

Finally, congrats on the later conquest. We need to hang out.

Just don't forget the skin man!

Lates!

[Gaisaradatsuraku!]

Oh yeah! I had a question. You said your girlfriends company said a client only wanted to work with a native American. Q: what (generally speaking) type of business was your girlfriend involved in? Would a business have a good reason to believe that she might not have the skills of a native born American (i.e., was this a job in marketing or something where you would reasonably want a native American for their inate understanding of the culture). or what? Also, was the client a US company or were they Japanese.

From the sounds of it, it appears pretty clear that your girlfriends company had no problem with her (they hired her didn't they). Rather it was a client's objection. Face it. You can't just tell your customers to f@ck off. maybe she is suing the wrong people.

[GomiGirl]

Just to put your theory to the test, I met a J-girl in my town last weekend and while doing it I asked if I could photograph her. I took all kinds of shots. Sorry, I knew I said I was going to stop but ...

Jack - aren't you the same guy who is getting married?

[cstaylor]

Jack - aren't you the same guy who is getting married?

Might change that to was if the girl has any computer skills and knows how to search browse history.

[Gaisaradatsuraku!]

Yes, this is the same Jack. He's quite the pisser isn't he! Quite a catch for you ladies out there too. He's still single and available from what I can tell.

Have fun kids!

[kamome]

Yes, this is the same Jack. He's quite the pisser isn't he! Quite a catch for you ladies out there too. He's still single and available from what I can tell.

Have fun kids!

Well, he's not married YET. How long do you think Jack will postpone the wedding in order to get a few more photos for his collection?

J/K, Jack. You 'da man.