Monday, September 8, 2008

Is this really socially acceptable?

Today I encountered something that happens from time to time here in Japan and which I'm not completely sure on how to deal with. To be honest, I'm not sure on whether this is a Japan country specific issue or something that also occurs frequently in Western nations. But now I'm getting ahead of myself.

During a mind-numbingly boring meeting I felt the need to relieve myself and went on my merry way to the bathroom we share together with another company on my floor. I get to the urinal and start to relieve myself, as relaxed as a man can be in this situation and another salaryman from the neighboring company comes into the bathroom and places himself at one of the other urinals in the bathroom, he shakes his head a bit, unzips (so far I have no problems with his actions), then he lets a big one rip while peeing, like it's the most natural thing to do.

I'm torn by this and not sure on the correct toilet manners. Is this an acceptable thing to do? Are you cleared to fart to your hearts content as long as you're in a bathroom, even if you're peeing and just am unzipped?

I wouldn't say that this makes me extremely uncomfortable, but still, in my eyes it would be more suitable to go into one of the booths, lock the door and then let it rip. This doesn't happen often enough to me to the degree that it is a big issue, but it happens from time to time. Personally I wouldn't do this but I am unsure whether I can condemn this behaviour or not...

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think letting 'em rip is socially acceptable here, because I've been "privy" to it on more than one occasion.

Personally, what bothers me a lot more is when the person doing his business feels the need to look over his shoulder and strike up a conversation with me, all the while
shaking the equipment for a lot longer than I think is necessary...

Mr. Salaryman said...

Hmmmm... This sounds a lot like something the Penguin might do, coming back to our previous discussion...

But to quote Seinfeld: "Not that there's anything wrong with it"

owenandbenjamin said...

You should try it. Letting out a big fart while urinating is a great experience. I do it whenever possible.

Anonymous said...

I read an article about Japanese people being so afraid of farting noises that they now construct the toilets to make very long flushing noises so people don´t need to flush several times to conceal their pooping noises.
All to minimize the water usage to save the enviroment.

Does this mean that the article wasn´t true?

I comment this with a great risk of being a bit "lame-o seriousness".

Mr. Salaryman said...

It's mostly women who are sensitive about their natural noises being heard. There are toilets now with built in flushing sound buttons so they don't have to waste any real water.

I have heard people (men) in the neighboring stall sometimes used the excessive flushing technique to hide the sounds, but in those cases those persons has had some serious digestive problems that day...

lina said...

lucky we women are much more civilised than you guys. Hehehe

Anonymous said...

Re your poll. I am a woman, therefore I would not be farting at an urinal. I think it is somewhat off-putting, but thankfuly haven't had that experience.

Anonymous said...

ps. I do appreciate the "princess sound" options in Japanese female bathrooms.

CG said...

Oh ! I greatly understand that you are puzzled.. I have the same kind of behavioural dilemna : should I accept that as natural ? Basically, Japanese rarely go easy, except in the loos.. Well, let them relax in bit, sometimes.. ! Farting, yes, for stress relieve ?

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