Putting up a sign like this is fine. But the line

But the “Conform to Japanese custom when you stay in Japan” bit is really ridiculous. That is unless they’ve had problems in the past with baka-gaijin touching the product.

For some reason I image the vendors holding a doll up to the octopuses and saying, “Now show me where the bad gaijin touched you.”

That last part was rather rude, and makes me want to touch the octopuses so much more.

That said, I have never understood the concept of a fish market as a tourist attraction.

I need to get a T’Shirt that reads “Control Freak - Take a Dump”

Yeah it is a rude sign.. however, in light of having taken my ‘gaijin’ friends to Tsukiji more than a few times, they do always tend to have the impression they are walking through a petting zoo rather than a market-place where the “animals” are actually products in which the venders take great pride. I’m guilty myself of poking my finger in an eye of a yellowtail when nobody was looking, but I think the Japanese do tend to have more sense of respect upon walking through that big warehouse; the rare few that visit for amusement purposes that is. Apparently they didn’t have to make the same sign in kanji, so I can only imagine what the vendors have to put up with on a daily basis.

I thought the sign was funny. I also thought it said volumes about the way in which some people experience Japan and the Japanese experience westerners.

The other day, for example, I was drinking some matcha in Tokyo in a cha’an. A gaijin who spoke a few words of Japanese was showing off Tokyo to friends from home. In his enthusiasm to explain the culture, he did all kinds of things: he kept calling the tea-serving girl “anata,” he pulled up the tatami mat to show off the recessed tea-pot area, he closed the “de-guchi” door because it was cold (thus causing us to leave by the entrance and share a good laugh with the tea-house staff). I don’t think he realized he was doing these things and that we are all giggling about his behavior. In fact, the tea-house staff kept apologizng to us for him, and I kept apologizing for him as my country man . . . .

And I can see how a proud fisherman would have seen his octopus prodded by one too many a westerner and come up with this sign.

It was an interesting cultural moment.

Ah, Alex. I’m glad it gave you a chuckle. And I can just see imagine what a thrown newspaper would do.

I am vasty impressed that this posting has 15 comments, while many more important ones have none. Hughy bless the interweb, may it ever be frivolous

As someone who has worked for years in fish retail*, I can just say these Japanese fishmongers are being far more gentle than the New Zealand ones are. Where we have similar fishy displays in Kiwiland, we have complementry knifehands instead of signs. *Swipe* “don’t touch the fish, dammit, they are FOOD, valuable food. . . . and stop bleeding on our concrete. Bloody tourists.”

I thought the sign a very polite and measured response. Remember these are busy business people, they wouldn’t have written the sign unless driven to it by baka gaijin. if japanese tourists had of been the problem instead, I think it would have been in kanji, yes?.

Vegetarian and Raw Food Diets

There are a few distinct differences between vegetarian and raw food diets. Basically, a vegetarian is someone who is committed to not eat meat, fish, poultry or any animal products, but only consumes vegetables, pasta, and rice. On the other hand, a r…