Category: Society

Which entrance would you use?

The left entrance (the blue noren one) gives access to the men bathroom. The right one (the red noren one) gives access to the women bathroom.

Most onsen (hot springs) and sento (public baths) usually use the same noren colors and at the same time the sex is specified written on them, however if you can’t read Japanese this could be a problem.

Another possibility is that the baths are mixed (混浴 – こんよく: konyoku) in which women and men share the same ofuros. Although mixed baths are less and less common and you can only find them in very traditional ryokans.

“Radio taiso” are a kind of exercises to warm up in the mornings that are practiced by many Japanese people since the end of the Second World War. One of the main goals of performing “radio taiso” is the reinforcement of the cooperation and unity spirit of all the participants. It is always carried out in groups, usually in schools before starting classes and in companies before starting the working day. It is another example of the collectivist behavior of Japanese society.

Two years ago 1 euro reached a cost of almost 170 yen; that was the maximum historic value of the euro against the yen. Last week the euro was devalued until 108 yen per euro, its minimum historic value against the yen. The biggest problem that Japan faces against this situation is the difficulty to export its products to Europe.

On the other hand, the advantage for those of us that like to consume certain European products from time to time is that thanks to the strong yen its so much cheaper to import them. For example, an olive oil liter can be bought for 698 yen in downtown Tokyo. The yen strength is useful for marketing purposes, the big characters on the red sign can be translated as “A strong yen is an advantage!” (円高還元).