アメリカ人が驚愕した日本人のティッシュの使い方とトイレ事情｜The Austin and Arthur Show

All right, man. Cheers. Cheers. This is very like smooth yeah yeah it's got a very clean taste to it yeah you know it's funny because so by the way asan thank you very much for getting this for us this is great 50th anniversary denture denture is my favorite and i think let's see when when was this bottled um I don't know if they write that on here, but you know, normally...

This has a much lighter, softer taste. It's a lot more refreshing than... yeah i'm used to what i'm used to when it comes to denture so this is this is nice but i still think we have to drink a little bit more before i can get the full depth of that that's fair Yeah, so before we jump into our topic, you brought this up before our episode started about how I like it.

I think our advertisement has me wearing this shirt. I was going to mention that. Oh, were you going to transition to it? Yeah, but you go for it, man. Oh, I just stole your thunder. I feel bad. that's okay um but yeah so i i feel a little bit embarrassed now but i mean to be honest this is like my favorite shirt so i i wear this like at least once a week um well if you wear it once a week and we film once a week it just kind of lands on that yeah um but yeah i don't know it just

It kind of reminds me of construction. Yeah. I think of like Lumberjack Seattle stuff. Yeah, yeah. It's got like a very kind of like outdoorsy. look to it and Which you don't really see in Japan very much. People wear flannel very much. Dude, if I could... I'll tell you, there's a couple... styles of clothing that if i could wear every day yeah i would be in heaven and flannel is one of them why i love flannel shirts why because you're from the pacific northwest that's why but

Yeah, there's that, but I also like heavy clothing. I get that. I don't really like... weight clothing yeah for me it feels cheap yeah and japan is like the land of lightweight clothing have you seen that yeah yeah yeah yeah no it's funny because when i was in seattle i wore flannel shirts a lot and i really liked it i was really into that and then Moving back to Boston, people are like, Arthur, what happened to you? Why do you always wear the same stuff?

but anyways for you guys who are watching on our youtube video if you like austin's shirt please say so if you think he should wear a different shirt Please don't comment. He will get sad. Yeah. You mean he insults my favorite shirt? Get out of here. Are you really our friend? Hopefully none of our friends are going to say that. So awesome. What were we going to talk about today? So we are going to talk about tissues today. Yeah. Which is kind of weird because...

It's not a subject that you intuitively think of when you think of Japan. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's funny because one of the things that really shocked me when I moved here... is just how much my wife uses tissues. When I say tissues, I mean like the tissues to blow your nose like Kleenexes, right? And what surprised me the most was that she used them at dinner.

as a napkin yes you know and when i first saw him i was thinking what the heck why would you do that i thought it was just a her thing but now i know a lot of families do that no no it's it's very very very common here yeah like even if you go out to like a restaurant it's common just like pull out some tissues and kind of do that right and it's It's really strange. coming from i i would say it's this is not even strange coming from american it's strange coming from a western culture because

We have dinner napkins. So, at dinner time, did you guys eat dinner together as a family? Okay, so at dinner time, what did you guys use as napkins? Uh, we usually had like a foldable cloth napkin. Oh. Uh, if it was a fancy dinner or we had paper napkins. Yeah. Yeah. So from my family, we were not that culture. We would use. We use paper napkins with like a design on it if it was a fancy meal. And then if it was an everyday meal, we would actually use paper towels.

Sure. Yeah. i mean i'm not gonna judge you yeah you hey listen we didn't eat with plastic we didn't eat with plastic forks and solo cups so i mean we're a little bit above that but no but it's the same concept right it's like paper towels here's here's my issue with using tissues like when you're eating is tissues are like really light. Yeah. And so as soon as they get wet, they just like disintegrate. Well, so here's the thing. Yeah. You know, actually they don't.

That's toilet paper. You know, it's funny because, you know, In America, you really only use Kleenex or tissues to blow your nose and stuff. You don't really use it every day. So when I saw my wife using tissues to clean up things,

I was thinking, why would you do that? They're so brittle because I was comparing it to like a paper towel because in my house we would use a paper towel which is heavier. Yeah, yeah. But they actually don't break apart very much which is why you're not supposed to put

tissues and the toilets yeah that makes sense yeah um so it's funny you bring that up because uh so before before i lived in japan um i worked for a homestay company in seattle yeah okay um so i was the program coordinator for that and um

So being in that position, you've got to communicate and resolve conflicts with host families and make sure the kids are all right and all the things are running smoothly, right? And by far the most common complaint host families have is Japanese exchange students would come over and these teenage kids They would complain about them using too much toilet paper and too much tissue. Yeah, you know, it's funny, because when, like... Like...

I first got married to Natsumi. I just remember like she'll go to the toilet and i didn't hear anything but then i would hear and that was like like pulling down a third of like the toilet paper roll you know yeah and it wasn't just her it's other people that do that too but i'm thinking like

why do people use so much toilet paper yeah i you know i don't know yeah i don't know the answer to that because like it to this day it still kind of confuses me because it's like you know we have bidets here yeah so you would think that that would create people using less toilet paper right yeah um and it's the same thing with tissues here um the one thing i will say that you don't often see yeah even if you go to public bathrooms is air dryer

yeah right so if you go to a public bathroom here often more often than not if it's like a train station bathroom they just won't have anything yeah Yeah, man. yeah that was like you know going back to america like because i just went back to america a couple months ago and seeing paper towels everywhere i mean now there's more and more paper towels being used in japanese bathrooms but when i moved here 10 years ago there were still a lot of places where

You didn't have it. And I remember because there's no culture of having handkerchiefs in America. So I just come in. I mean, this happens every once in a while. I still don't have a handkerchief. And so I go and I wash my hands and then it's like... how do I dry my hands yeah okay I'm just gonna try like oh well water I guess up here yeah but uh that's so funny I I love I thought I was the only one who did that. No, man. Oh, that's good.

One of the big complaints that I had when I first moved here. Sorry, not when I moved here. When I came here as an exchange student. And this is how long ago now? 20 years ago now, man. It's crazy. I'm going to be 35 next month. That's so weird. Old fart. I know. so i came here when i was like 15 16 and 18 and um so when i first came here Like, you would go to the bathroom and there would be no toilet paper or tissues at all in the bathroom. See, I...

I have a hard time believing that there was no toilet paper because I've never experienced that before. I understand there's no toilet paper. tissues to wipe your hands but so no toilet paper yeah so i'll explain though because that's i'm not telling like completely the whole story okay the reason why is because Even 20 years ago, there was a lot more of the old-style squatting toilets. Those were really, really common back then. And I think...

In preparation for the Olympics, Japan kind of just tried to eliminate those because those are not popular with foreigners. I hate them. I can't stand them. It feels weird and uncomfortable and I just can't get used to them. but um yeah so i think i think leading up to the 2020 Olympics there there was a big push to like update the toilet system but back then it's like

Dude, if you wanted a public restroom, that's what you got. Yeah. Like even in Tokyo, it was really common to just walk in there. Yeah. And so that style of bathroom doesn't have toilet paper or didn't have toilet paper back then. So then... But then how would you like...

Clean yourself. There's no bidet. Do you use your hand like an idiot? I mean, yeah, that's what they do. Oh, my God. Oh, yeah, because they have a little wash thing after work, right? Yeah, they do. Yeah, yeah. But, okay, so there were two options. First of all, many public bathrooms had like a little tissue vending machine okay so it'd be mounted on the wall and um

Like, you know, that's not an uncommon thing because you see those in, uh, like Western, uh, public bathrooms too. It'll be like a, like a cologne and condom dispenser. Yeah. So here there were tissues. Okay. Right. Um, but. Even better than that, though, is Pretty much right outside of every train station, there was somebody handing out tissues with a little advertising on it. And you still sometimes see that today, but it's not very common these days. Yeah.

yeah i mean they definitely there's definitely fewer people now but i remember dude first coming to japan yeah it's like what's everyone's obsession with tissues that they would put advertisements on them you know right hey you know people use them a lot yeah

Yeah, although I kind of, you know, now that you say about the toilet paper and the vending machine, you know, I actually kind of like that idea. Because here's the thing, right? So like, do you remember going to the United States? You have that one toilet that's like... full of toilet paper and stuff. And, like, people just use way too much than they should. I'm going to take it a step further. Yeah. I do not use public bathrooms in the U.S. Yeah, I try not to. They are disgusting. Yeah.

Yeah, they are. They're so disgusting, I don't even want to be in New York. Yeah, I know. If I have to use a bathroom, usually what I'll do is I'll look for a really nice place. Yeah. Or just go home. Yeah. You know? like it's it's literally that bad well yeah because like a lot of those places they just smell like sewage yes it's gross yeah yeah and the entire bathroom is wet yeah yeah

Yes. You're bringing back bad memories now. Someone just came in with a fire hose and just sprayed the whole thing. It wasn't a fire hose, man. It was another type of hose, but... It's just gross, dude. You know, it's funny because I grew up in a pretty affluent neighborhood, right? And so it's like a... No, they're not wasps. A lot of Catholics are there. But like... It was where the rich people live, basically. Even there in the parks, in the public bathrooms,

It was so bad. It smelled so bad. But here's the thing. So taking it back to why I like having a vending machine is because if you pay for something, you're going to use it better. And actually in Germany, When you go to a public restroom, they normally have a cleaner waiting outside and you have to put in 50 cents.

or one euro to use it. And you know, I kind of like that idea because it's funding the upkeep of the place. You know, i i i doubt you'll even run into him these days but like way back when like before we were even born they used to have a person inside the bathroom yeah it was like kind of staff that was kind of like taking care of maintenance

they would they would be in the bathroom for people right and they would like give you a towel they would give you a towel to dry your hands and stuff like that and i kind of feel like i wouldn't mind having that back i experienced that once in my life and it was so i felt like a vip you know and of all places i think it was in like the airport or something yeah where that happened yeah and you know it's it's funny because i ended up giving the guy like a dollar or whatever you know but like

it's worth it because he's cleaning the place and it looks nice. Yeah. Speaking of cleaning, how do you feel about And um...

In Japan, very often, they have female janitors in the men's bathroom. Whereas in America, that would never happen. You know what the weird thing is? I'm really okay with it. I think... It's kind of a... it's kind of a weird thing because if you think of like if it was the opposite situation of like old men going into the women's bathroom yeah i think unanimously everyone would be against that yeah right but

I don't know. It's just... You know, it's funny now that you mention that because, like, You know, being in Japan, this really shocked me in Japan is because people talk about how, you know, the bathrooms are very private. Like in America first, you have like almost a full foot of space between the door and the floor. Like when you go to more old-fashioned places, like near... izakaya or something like that and you have the men's bathroom

like the urinals are like right next to the door. And so someone walking by can like peer in and like look at the men peeing. I can't even express how common that is. Like my train station right now, if you're walking in the train station,

If you just look at the bathroom, you can see the urinals. Yeah. But dude, even on the Shinkansen, right? They have like the urinal for the men. And they have a little window, right? And there's a window in it so you can... Yeah. Yeah. And it's like, I remember when I first saw the window, I'm like, I don't want someone to watch me when I'm peeing. Like, what is this? What is, why?

like it just and it was so weird because i remember like in um in shinjuku too there's like this place called omoide yokocho which is like now it's a tourist trap but it's kind of like supposed to be old-fashioned sake izakaya places you know sake izakaya places And like, I remember I went there with a friend and I went to the urinal and it's like,

it's like a very open space and there's just like urinals in the corner and like everybody walking by can just like look and see all the men and there's not even a door and then the woman's the woman's bathroom was conveniently tucked behind a corner so you just see the wall but the guys it's like Right there. And I mean, I understand because you can't really see anything if you're like hugging a urinal, but just wild, man. Yeah, it's weird. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of crazy how like...

I'm not going to go so far as to say like men's bathrooms are compared or like. thought of as like public spaces but it kind of feels like yeah where it's just like ah whatever it's just a guy peeing like yeah you know yeah yeah you know it's it's you know it just kind of reminds me about how like We talk a lot about how Japanese people tend to be much more private than American people.

But there are some strange instances where I feel like Japanese people are way more open and Americans are way more private. Oh, dude, yeah, completely, right? I mean, like, that, onsens, like, that's another thing, right? Yeah, it's huge. Like, public nudity is like a really common thing yeah um i remember i mean we're getting a little bit off topic but i i i was so shocked when i heard this yeah um

I forget. This is an interesting topic anyways. I forget. What I was listening to, it was some memoir of a European person coming...

in visiting Japan, I think in the turn of the century. Are you going to talk about the sleeves? Up sleeves thing?

no i'm gonna i'll talk about i was gonna talk about like it being really common to see topless women oh yeah yes yeah oh is that what you were talking about well okay well what I was gonna say was like when people are working in the fields you know the women they hike up their sleeves and you can totally see their chest and people didn't really care back then but for the Europeans they were horrified of like women chewing their breasts

yeah yeah yeah so okay we're basically talking about the same thing but basically this guy was going to like rural villages and stuff and like people just working outside and you know like of course guys it's not considered strange for guys to take off their shirt while working well women used to do that too yeah and it wasn't a big deal yeah

And then the Europeans are like, wait, you can't do that. Yeah, it becomes a big deal because of Western imperial values, you know? Yeah, it's really funny. Like, another thing that really kind of surprised me when it comes to personal space stuff is... like the train like you talked about this in another episode but like people just fall asleep and their shoulders their head will go on your shoulders because like in America that would never happen and it feels like

like an invasion of your personal space yeah you know although i think i think japan is becoming more westernized recently yeah um in that sense because i don't see it as much now yeah i used to see it all the time yeah but i think I think people have recently, and probably it has to do with COVID, I would guess.

But I think people are recently a lot more aware of their little privacy bubble. Yeah. I mean, that could be it. But honestly, I think a lot of it just has to do with... like social media influence because now everyone is using the same social media we talked about this before before you had mixie no one uses mixie no more everyone uses instagram you know instagram tumblr facebook well facebook's even kind of dying these days but yeah well i mean but here here's the thing right so we

a lot of people you know they talk about how america used to be much more socially cohesive and like unified but that's because our media sources were all the same and now it's all different and so everyone's so different but it's more different but now people in other countries still have the same So it's all become more homogenized now. Yeah, for sure. So I think that's one of the reasons why the urinals in plain sight are going to slowly disappear. Yeah.

It's definitely interesting. Going back to the subject of tissues, though, like... One of the things that I... I mean, I'm not even really good at it. I still don't do this. But, like, have you gotten in the habit of carrying on tissues? No. Actually, you know what's funny? Because I...

I needed to get tissues because now it's flu season and my son's getting my noses so I'm trying to stock up on tissues and I stock up on them and then I forget to bring them outside with me. I feel like... there's a cultural understanding here in Japan that if you're born here, there's like...

like almost like a kit you carry around with you like whenever you leave your house and like I'll tell you what it is for guys it's like you have your tissues I see a lot of guys whip out a little bit of hair wax or hair job. They have that and then breath mint.

breathments yeah it's like those three things like i feel like it's so uncommon to find guys here without that and i'm sure women have their own version of that too right yeah no it's it's funny that you mentioned that you have like that kit because yeah you know

I think also, I mean, it's becoming less prevalent now, I think, but having, like, handkerchiefs with you, too, because I still don't have that. Oh, you see people carry around handkerchiefs all the time here. But, you know, it's funny because, like, Like, it really hits me in the summer because when people are sweating, they use their handkerchiefs to get their sweat. Yeah.

I don't care. I hope they wash that every day. Yeah, I know. But here's the thing, like you and I, we don't carry handkerchiefs. So what we do is we like use our hands. I'll do that or like my sleeve. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then like. it's on our hands and then we touch something else you know but yeah but what's what's funny is you know my son he's like man he's getting so big he's like five now i can't believe it um

He goes to kindergarten every day. And he has to bring a handkerchief every day. And... Dude, it's so crazy kindergartens have like this strict list of things that they need to have on them. And I'm always the one to forget it. My wife is always, I'm about to take my son out the door. She's like, does he have his handkerchief? No, we have to go get it. So we have to go get it. And sometimes he even reminds me.

reminds me you know like my son knows better than i do now i need my handkerchief dad i'm more japanese than you are weren't you yeah but i mean you know it's funny because you know i wonder why it is because when you think about it a handkerchief is like

pretty convenient yeah and having tissues is pretty convenient and having hair gel hair wax you know because because you know in america too women have like their makeup kits that they take with them you know yeah but like why do you think guys don't Have that. I think tissues. In general guys groom themselves i mean we've talked about this before but guys groom themselves way more here in japan than in the u.s yeah like it's it it's very noticeable

Right. Yeah. Especially young men, like they're grooming each other. Like I'm always walking in the bathroom, like at my work. and there'll be like young male teachers like with a comb or something just kind of like cleaning up between classes yeah it just it's something you really see a lot here yeah yeah i wonder like

I wonder why it is that like American people care so little about their appearances because it's a European thing. Like people do that in Europe too. Oh, do they? Yeah. Oh, okay. People really care about their clothes and they really care about their appearance. But it's like in the United States where people are like, I'm going to look like a pig and you're going to accept me.

man yeah dude okay so i think like so we were going to talk about tissues and stuff but we ended up talking about toilets and privacy a lot which is also a very interesting thing i feel like it's kind of connected yeah yeah yeah it's it's funny though because like you know we talk about Um...

how like men like the weird things of like the privacy things right because we've talked about this probably in another episode too but like you know the men you know in the urinals you can totally see that but then like When you go sit down in a toilet in a restaurant or something, they have sounds playing so that you can't hear the P sound. Where's the line? It's so different. It's so funny. Yeah, because you'll go in and it's like the same sound everywhere. It's like...

It's running water, stream, and then there's like a bird. So it's like, ah, you're pooping next to me. I know what's going on over there. Yeah, but it's just like, okay, so you don't care about being seen on the urinal, but then the toilets are really private. You have music and stuff running so that no one can hear you. Yeah. It's like...

Like what, you know? Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. But cool. So, so what are we going to talk about next time? We're going to talk about medicine. Medicine. Yeah, because I hate taking medicine here because it's, it doesn't work for me. I get what you're saying on that. Yeah. Yeah. I kind of am in the same boat, but I don't know. Like for me, it's just weird. I don't know how else to describe it, but we'll talk about why I think that in the next episode, but.