Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Blood and Germs

Been a while since a post on differences between America and Japan, but with the start of spring bringing me a few bloody noses, I think it's interesting how Japan treats blood and germs differently than America.

In America:

For germs, some people are perhaps a little too germaphobic, and some people could use a few more hand washes during the day, but for the most part people at least turn their head when they cough and sneeze.  People also are pretty good about washing their hands after going to the bathroom. 

When people are sick in the US, there usually isn't much that they do differently.  Kids come to school when they aren't feeling well all the time.

As for blood, I get bloody noses pretty often and when they happened during school, the teacher would usually get semi-freaked out (rightfully so because usually a bloody nose happens because of a fight or something, but in my case they always just start randomly for no reason), on the way anyone seeing a bloody napkin under my nose would instantly give me plenty of room in fear that a drip might jump out on them at any time.  The nurse would put on gloves and just tell me to keep pressure on my nose until it stopped bleeding.  After, they make sure all blood was completely washed up with lots of soap and cleaning fluids and such.  All Kleenex's were thrown away in a separate bin and instantly taken away so that there weren't any bloody napkins just sitting in trash cans.  Once I got literally one tiny drip of blood on my shirt and the nurse wouldn't let me go back to class until I changed into my gym uniform.  Up until I came to Japan, I figured this was pretty standard practice, and with all the blood-borne diseases that humans carry, completely understandable.



In Japan:


For germs, lets just say the majority of Japanese people I work and hang out with would probably be considered very rude in America.  No attempt to cover up the mouth when they cough or sneeze.  After the bathroom, I'd say less than 25% of folks wash their hands.  But I mean, everyone uses chopsticks to eat everything from hamburgers (what they call hamburgers in Japan are usually Salisbury steaks in the US), french fries, and apple slices.  So since nobody really touches their food, I guess hand sanitation isn't given too much attention.  But when someone starts going on a coughing and sneezing frenzy right next to you, it isn't the most fun.

When people feel even the least bit sick in Japan, anything from a headache, to a sore throat, to a cold, or anything, they will wear those surgical masks that for some reason haven't caught on in America.  I really like this part of Japan, it's super good for those around you and helps prevent your throat from drying up.  They also sell some masks with some antibiotics on them.  I really with this trend would catch on in America.  For whatever reason, Americans seem to think people who wear the masks are super germaphobic, but in reality, they are just sick and don't want you to get sick.

And blood, I get a bloody nose at school and instinctively went to the nurses office.  When I got there, she was like "ah bloody nose..." I was like "yea, I should probably get away from people, wait for it to stop, then wash up my face. " She takes a tissue and rips it into four pieces, crumples up one of the pieces and hands it to me.  I had no idea what to do with it, so she takes the bloody Kleenex from under my nose (not wearing gloves), and takes one of the four pieces and motions to me to like shove it up my nose and I'm like "what in the world is going on."  But I was in no position to argue, I take the little piece of napkin and shove it up my nose. 

She notices some blood on my face and a decently large drop on my cloths, so she takes the general-use towel (there weren't any paper towels next to the sink, just an actual cloth towel) and gets it a little wet (no soap) and just rubs my face and shirt until all the blood is gone.  After, she runs the bloody parts of the towel under room-temperature water until the red is off the towel and then rings it out and hangs it right back on the hanger for the next person to use and then sends me on my way.

Final Score Card

I definitely think the way germs and blood are taken care of in the US is much more sanitary than in Japan, but when people are sick, Japan wins with the surgical masks.

1 comment:

  1. Darryl Papa-senseiMarch 29, 2012 at 2:13 PM

    I got to your blog from the kanji video, and was reading some of your other posts. Great point of view! I never noticed a difference in the germ attitudes, except for the inside/outside shoe regimen which I now live every day at our home in the US ;)

    Luckily our family hasn't had any 'exsanguination' while we were in Japan, or sickness involving mucus, so I haven't seen the attitude comparison for myself.

    One thing I have seen, is that if you get sick, people think you got that way because you weren't treating yourself well. So it's your fault you got sick, and they can get angry at you. Whereas illness in the US is frequently a "too bad, let's try to help you get better".

    Darryl

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