Hey there.
Sooo, long time no post! haha! Told you blogging has never been my thing. I am just too lazy for that. I really am curious as to how some people manage to keep posting such awesome things. Anyways, my host mother gave me a very nice inspiration for blogging the other day, and it made me feel like I might be able to write something about it. So here I am.
There is one thing I've been trying hard, I MEAN SO HARD, to teach my host brothers (they're 6 and 9) lately and it is "to shut the bathroom door." My little brothers and I share the same bathroom everyday and we have 2 little kitties in our house (Here I will refrain myself from confessing my tremendous love to them. Cause it'd take a whole day). So whenever any of us left the bathroom door opened, one of the kitties would sneak in and go crazy until he/she shredded the toilet paper to death. Each time it happened it was such a waste of so much toilet paper, so I decided we all should make sure to close the door when we leave the bathroom. However, the shredding accident has happened at least like 10 times so far (those days of my desperate attempt to teach the boys how they should NEVER leave the bathroom door open all ended in vain) and it definitely put us into some toilet paper famine crisis a couple times... I mean it was not that bad but when you have 3 bathrooms and there are only 2 rolls of toilet paper in the house you feel pretty unsafe.
Anyways, the other day I told the boys again that we needed to make sure we shut the door otherwise we would run out of toilet paper and it'll be pretty bad, and one of them innocently said to me, "You can use tissue paper." He was definitely not cute when he said it, but I said, "Well yes but if you flush too much tissue paper it's gonna break the toilet." Then my host mother who was listening to our conversation looked at me and said, "No. Toilet paper and tissue paper are made out of the same thing." and I'm like
WHAT
OK, so in Japan, there is no way it is ok to flush tissues down the toilet. We have it inputted in our brains. Even little kids. DO. NOT. FLUSH. TISSUES. DOWN. THE. TOILET. Cause if you did, it will block the toilet pipe and it'll be bad. Everyone knows. Basic fact. But apparently it was not a basic fact for my host family. I wondered if it was another cultural difference, but it also could've been only my host family so I just let it go.
Then, the other day at school, when I was in my theatre arts class I told my friends about this. "My host family says it's ok to flush tissues" "Yeah they're no different than toilet paper"
ME:
So I don't know about everybody else in America, but apparently what I've been taught in Japan about flushing tissues down the toilet for my entire life does not apply at all in this country? Really? It's like no one believes me... but they told me tissues don't flush very well in the toilet...they told me.... Is it me who is wrong or....?
Because, look at this sign. This is something you typically see at a bathroom in Japan. It says,
WARNING
Lately we have been having many problems
with our toilets getting broken due to all the tissues flushed frequently.
Do not flush anything else but toilet paper.
If you are found flushing tissues, you will be reported to police.
and this kind of sign is very typical.
We even have clip arts for that....
Well, I don't know. Not only this, but there are also so many other things that apply in Japan but not in America. Like I was wearing a mask at school the other day, because in Japan people wear it when they're sick or there are many sick people around them so that they can prevent spreading their germs/ getting other peoples germs (refer to the picture below), but some people looked at me with the looks and one of my friends actually said "What is that on your face?" which would never happen in Japan. I heard that here it's usually only doctors who wear masks plus only when they conduct a surgery. Hmm. Doctors in Japan are always wearing a mask.... It's considered as one thing that protects them from getting their patient's germs.
I sometimes feel kind of sad whenever I see something I believe is so easily denied in this country, but I guess it's just what we call "cultural difference". If you look at it from a different perspective, it can be quite interesting or even funny.
But I still wonder. I was taught that tissues do not melt as well as toilet paper in the water. So I should not flush them down the toilet, otherwise I'll break it. Do you think this is true? or nonsense? Are you American or from somewhere else in the world? I really am curious if you flush tissues in your country or not. Oh, and have you ever encountered any cultural difference in another country just like I did in America? Let me know what you think.
P.S. We have so much fun with masks.
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