Lol, that’s exactly what I do too. Toilet break + elephantine nose-blowing.
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Japan loves talking about food so much I find it hard believing such a thing doesn’t exist, lol.
Like, half of TV programs are food related, really.
I did a quick search and found this website by Japanese government. The 博物館 part has a list of relevant food-related museums around the country, it could be interesting.
(of course I don’t know if you are in Japan, tho)
In general, when searching for such things 食文化 should be a useful keyword.
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Thanks for this very useful tip and for the link to the website! ^>^
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I have a question regarding Japanese people speaking in Japanese to foreigners outside Japan.
I’ve recently had some strange encounters in Vienna where I would try to speak to Japanese people in Japanese, but they would reply in German instead. It was a little easier with the older generation - they would speak in Japanese when approached in Japanese. Meanwhile, the younger ones (20-30?) would ignore my attempts to speak in Japanese to them, but having no problem talking in Japanese to other Japanese people.
Is it because I don’t look “Asian enough” or did my speaking skills really get this rusty? 
Although it shouldn’t, it’s bothering me a bit.
Will I get a similar treatment in Japan where Japanese people will flat out talk to me in English?
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When Japanese people speak to me in English in England, I’m fine. When Japanese people speak English to me here in Japan, I reply in Japanese as much as I can. I’m not here to be everyone’s free English practice.
Switch that around and you might see where these people are coming from.
It happens.
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I don’t sadly. I think part of the problem might be that I’m not Austrian and German is not my first language so them speaking to me in German is like both of us using another foreign language to communicate. That’s hardly convenient for any of the parties.
When I say it happens, it depends on who has the better language ability. If your Japanese is better than their English, the conversation will be in Japanese. If their English is better than your Japanese (invariably, in my case) then getting people to speak in Japanese to you is almost impossible in my experience.
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Yeah, but you’re not in Japan.
Well, they don’t know that, though. If you tell them your Japanese is better than your German (and assuming it is!) that hopefully will help get the conversation onto the right track again. But I think a lot of people in a foreign country will at least try to speak in that country’s language if they can, and especially people who are adventurous and outgoing enough to be having conversations with strangers in the first place might be specifically looking for that kind of speaking practice opportunity.
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Yeah, I think that’s fair. My Japanese is definitely better than my German so I could probably ask them kindly to switch to Japanese if they’re okay with it.
I know I’m not exactly being reasonable, but I was just really taken aback by them completely ignoring my attempts 
.
I feel one thing I should’ve mentioned initially is that all of the encounters I had were actually in Japanese stores, not randomly in the street.
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I’ve lived in Asia for over 25 years, the last 11 of them in Japan, and I can tell you for sure that having random people come up to you asking you random questions just to get some English conversation practice gets old really quick. The worst was actually in Korea back in the 2000’s where it was a running joke among westerners in Seoul that when a Korean person wants to ask for directions, the first thing they do is look for a foreigner to ask.
I imagine Japanese expats doing their shopping in Vienna get just as tired of people looking for Japanese practice!
Because I’m so rubbish at languages, I’ve never been able to not reply in English. That’s me providing almost three decades of free English practice to people in the street. Well, now I’m finally getting to grips with some Japanese, that’s over!
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Hahaha I think I might’ve seen videos of this one 
I can totally see that happening. In my case I’m a little terrified of speaking to Japanese people, but in order to overcome this I decided to finally get speaking classes. Well, as soon as I write that email. I know I will 
.
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That’s the way to go! Good luck with them!
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Moving out of the way of ambulances when driving is surely universal, right? What about moving out of the way of police cars with their sirens on in Japan? I know if they really want you to move over, they’ll just say so via loudspeaker, but are the sirens not an indication that they are on their way to something urgent?
I was on a one lane highway that has a few small emergency pull over spots. I heard and then saw a police car behind me so I pulled over into one of those spots and they passed. However the person in front of me did not pull over and in fact did 10kph under the limit. The police car never used the loudspeaker on the car, but surely that can’t be the recommended action right? It turned out the police were on their way to a serious accident with a totaled car. I hope the occupants were ok because the police arrived before an ambulance did, but it was pretty key for the police to arrive quickly as they removed the hazardous road debris and talked with the driver. That’s not uncommon for police right? So surely there’s a law or recommendation to move th out of the way, right??
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I don’t have an answer to your question, but I have noticed the same thing! Even for ambulances… Like, there is an intersection and an ambulance comes rushing toward it with sirens on, but some Japanese people will still decide to cross the street if they see a green light for them. 
And the ambulance will wait for them. Yes, the will use the loudspeaker but these people then don’t run out of the way, they merely increase their speed a bit. It blew my mind!
I’ve also noticed that if police or ambulances have their lights on but no sirens, nobody will move or even consider getting out of the way. That also blew my mind I have seen police and ambulances with their light on wait at traffic lights or for pedestrians at crossings.
If I had to guess: There are probably similar laws to Europe and/or the US, but nobody cares. The same way as - in theory - bicycles are not allowed to use the sidewalk or go against the direction of traffic on the street and yet I encounter this very, very frequently (I currently live and work in somewhat rural Japan and commute to work by bike). I even looked up all the rules for cycling in Japan because it drives me nuts and now I feel justified in giving a death stare to these people (especially the ones who drive on the road but against the flow of traffic, aka my freaking side of the road, which I share with cars and don’t want to share with cyclist going the other direction).
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My understanding of lights only no sirens is that it usually means the occupants are either on duty or on their way but trying not to be a nuisance
Blows my mind though too. Especially with all the stuff pushed about needing to treat heart attacks and other health events quickly with minutes and seconds making the difference between life and death.
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Yes, I can’t imagine a worse hell than being in the back of an ambulance in Japan trying to get to a hospital. Not only do the sirens mean nothing at all to anyone, people have spent literally days in ambulances waiting to find a hospital that will admit them. And if it’s covid related, not a chance. The best way to get to hospital is anything other than an ambulance.
As for the police, it was about a year ago… I was approaching a zebra crossing on foot (no lights) as a police car approached at the same time, sirens on. The police car stopped to let me cross. Now, there’s no way I can walk across the road in front of a police car with its sirens on, so I waved them on. They waited and waved me on. I waved them on. They waved me on. Eventually I just turned around and walked away.
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How much electricity and industrial waste do you think would be decreased if all of Japan stopped using and making those ambient noise devices in restrooms?
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Well obviously it’s only continuing the same process. Not that surprising.
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Decades vs millennia.
Still surprises me.
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