Monday, 18 March 2024

An American Day for a Japanese Restroom

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An American Day for a Japanese Restroom


toile_line_big.gifIn the US, when a public restroom (such as one in an amusement park) is crowded, people would form a waiting line for the entire restroom, not for each compartment. The first person in the line would take any compartment that just became available.

Meanwhile, in Japan, you wait in a line before each compartment. It’s your choice to pick which compartment. If your compartment becomes available sooner than the others, you would feel lucky. If not, you would wish you had chosen one that became available sooner, but you would never insist, “I came first.”

Ms. A told me what she had done in a restroom in a Japanese amusement park. She told people there that waiting in a line for the entire restroom was more appropriate. They accepted her claim and formed one line for the entire restroom.

That didn’t satisfy Ms. A, so she went back to the same restroom a few hours later to check it. Then she found that her American rule was still respected. Does it mean that the line had never broken up since Mr. A instructed the restroom users...?

Yume Ikue