So I turned the corner into our neighborhood yesterday, and just as I was about to head up the hill toward our street, the car in front of me pulled over to the left, and an older Japanese gentleman in a tweed suit jumped out. I say jumped, because really, he about tumbled over himself in his rush to get out the door. As he crossed in front of me, bobbing his head as he went, I couldn't help wondering why he was in such a hurry. A split-second later, I knew the reason. You know it, too, don't you? Even if the spoiler title above didn't give it away, you know where this is headed. But you don't know where he was headed. Why, right to the small ditch on the other side of the road! He had to go, I assure you. I couldn't help noticing.
He didn't try to hide, not in the slightest. I wasn't exactly shocked, because male urination in Japan is often done basically out in the open. We laugh sometimes at the tiny concrete wall that is commonly erected right outside a door-less men's restroom in any outdoor venue, such as a public park or castle grounds. If you stand in one spot, directly behind the wall, and you don't move more than a few inches in either direction, you can't see what's going on in there. But if you're standing elsewhere or you happen to be walking by, expect to see too much, because you undoubtedly will.
Still, I had never seen "too much" while driving into our neighborhood, so this was new, in its own way. And funny, also in its own way. Because it's universal: we've all done the Pee-pee Dance.
Sorry I don't have a photo for this post, but that would be just--well, weird. And possibly illegal.
