Lol, I think this article is more promotional than true.
I landed at Yokota Airbase in August 1969. I clearly remember driving down the streets through Yokohama and seeing men letting it all hang out and peeing in esplanades in the middle of divided streets in broad daylight.
On the road between cities, public restrooms were dual sex. Men up against the wall, women walking behind them and selecting a stall. The facilities were usually basically clean but not spotless.
Sewage in the streets was generally open in small, concrete lined trough like conduits. I surmised back then they were open so as to expedite cleaning or fixing blockages.
Rivers were typically called “binjo (sewer) ditches” by GI’s and were just filthy and corrupted and smelly because of thousands of sewers dumping into them. (This could be all cleaned up by now)
Now, inside Japanese personal residences the writer is absolutely correct as they were always spotless and you never went in them without taking your shoes off and I never went in my rented house without taking my shoes off.
I went in a lot of “Public Buildings” but never noticed anyone taking their shoes off.
The Japanese people are just the worlds greatest most sincere and attentive Hosts inside their homes. Socializing in a Japanese home is a lifetime memory.
All in all, the two years I spent there were the two best of my life and I often pinched myself back then to force myself to acknowledge that.
I’m looking forward to returning for two weeks (46 years later) this year with my daughter. Don’t go without going to Three Sisters Inn in Osaka and the Kyoto Palace in Osaka. Even two weeks is not enough to see Japan. Other ancient sites are just breathtaking.
Ya know, I now think all this bathroom talk and the many styles of accomplishing this need in other countries may be the reason I’ve had no desire to travel!
So sue me. : ^ }
Actually, I have always (for the majority of my life) admired the Japanese people. Whenever I see some Japanese tourists, I almost always try to speak with them and I am rewarded by meeting polite, attentive visitors who seem genuinely pleased that I wanted to speak with them.
Within the past year my wife and I were in Nashville attending an concert by some elite musicians (Vince Gill was among them). There were 4 older Japanese gentlemen in line to buy tickets. Never would have thought that they would be in Nashville attending a Texas swing concert, but there they were. One recent music festival had a young lady clogging contestant from Japan. Another event had a couple of young guys (guitar and banjo player) from Japan in attendance. So, I think that some types of American music have a following there in Japan.