Port of Origin: Weird Japan

We have traveled around the world and there is no place more bizarre than Japan. While we’re sure not everything in our society makes sense, Japan has some of the oddest, and usually humorous, ways of life.

- ATMs are not 24hours (except at 7-11)

- Almost every restaurant has plastic food outside as a menu display (some even look real)

- Gas pumps hang upside down

- “Osaka Bang”

Special only to Osaka, this activity occurs when someone pretends to shot or stab you, and you, “the victim,” play along and pretend to die. Everyone there knows about it and plays along in Osaka. Skeptical, a couple people from Tokyo filmed their “Osaka Bang” experience and their outcomes will leave you in tears. I only believed it was real when my sister went to Osaka and tried it herself.

- Manners:

It is socially acceptable to pick your nose in public but it is not ok to blow your nose in public.

It is frowned upon to walk while eating and drinking.

In the Japanese language, it is considered rude to say the word "no" directly.

Gas station attendants bow as a car leaves the station and train conductors bow after they enter and before they leave the car.

- Toilets:

Japanese toilets are the true kings of the commodes with their heated seats, pulsing bidets, and rump driers. Some are even operated with a remote control while others have a spiget over the lid so one can wash their hands and conserve water.

Another bathroom oddity is the Sound Princess. Many Japanese women are uncomfortable with bodily noises in public bathrooms and in an attempt to cover up they flush the toilet continually. This water flushing noise machine has since been installed in many female public restrooms and it is estimated that it saves 20 L of water per use.

While the Sound Princess may have caught on the female urinal never did. Some where added in the train stations during the 1964 Olympics to accommodate foreigners.