A Japanese law enforcement officer takes a whiz facing the a busy street (invisible from this angle) next to the Yodogawa river. The steady line of traffic that passed by shortly after I snapped this photo must have been able to see him, as he failed to conceal himself behind the taller shrub to his right. Maybe he was just a cosplay urination exhibitionist.
Fun fact: it is socially acceptable to whip it out and take a leak almost anywhere on the streets of Japan, especially if you are an old man.
The only way to prevent this is to put little torii (the red Shinto gate) up in places where you don't want people to piss. Pissing on a torii, as my brother explained, is like pissing on God.
These things apparently work pretty well. Juso, famous for snack bars, colorful non-chain izakayas with an authentic Kansai atmosphere (rivaled only by Shinsekai in my humble opinion), and negiyaki (a type of okonomiyaki, which on a side note I refuse to call a Japanese pizza- who came up with that anyway!) as well as drunk people making their way home from these establishment. The fact that this particular wall does not smell like urine is a testament to the power of the mini torii to ward off those who would otherwise urinate in this area.
Update: Mark has some related pictures up at the Champon Adventures. Thanks dude!
Comments (7)
Silly Japanese - if I had to, I'd probably pee on a picture of Jesus, Moses, and Mohammed having a three-way.
Speaking of public urination, Sarah and I were lucky enough to see our first public defecation on a busy city street, in full view of a major intersection. I actually saw Mr. Hankey! Ten minutes later, we passed a few guys smoking a joint on the street; thirty minutes later a fight between a crack dealer and his customer.
Normally, not such a big deal, but this particular time, her parents and sister were here visiting for the day, and Sarah and I had planned our route carefully to avoid some of the "shadier" areas of our fine city.
Yay, San Francisco! BTW, when are you planning on coming back? We should throw you a party at White Castle.
Posted by: Chris Dempsey | January 20, 2006 12:16 AM
Posted on: January 20, 2006 00:16
Those toriis are a crackup. And necessary only because rude men insist on "whipping it out" and stenching up the place.
Where were you, Chris? The Mission District, the Tenderloin, Fishermen's Wharf, Pac Bell Stadium area, Market Street, Golden Gate Park or Land's End? (nude beach) All of these are druggie areas and high crime areas, too.
San Franciso has just a whole lot of interesting areas to check out, and it's almost impossible to be a tourist and not see all sides of humanity (and inhumanity).
Posted by: YoMama | January 20, 2006 8:37 AM
Posted on: January 20, 2006 08:37
Hey Adam, I've been enjoying your photos recently. I also got a few of some gentlemen that live next to the Shirakawa and you know I have a couple shots of some salarymen relieving themselves late at night off the Shimotori.
I have a qwestion for you. I have been reading this Murakami book, Underground. It's about Aum and the subway attacks, pretty good book. But it mentions an Aum headquarters located in Naminomura, Kumamoto ken. If anyone would know where this is or was, it would be you. Did you ever check it out? One of my teachers told me the big dirt hill (that we hashed through several times) behind Kumamoto Eki was former property of Aum, but who knows. Let me know what you know.
Posted by: disco ase | January 20, 2006 12:37 PM
Posted on: January 20, 2006 12:37
Chris: That reminds me of Chapelle's character sketch "It's Tyrone". Well, pleasant boring trips with the inlaws are over rated anyways...
Dude, I'll most likely be back in mid-April and a get together is way overdue. I'm down for some White Castle after watching Harold and Kumar. And speaking of stuff that's way overdue, when are we gonna finally go diving again?
Mark: I want to see those pictures! Post them on your Flickr account and I'll throw a link up.
Regarding the Aum in Namino-san, they were indeed there. I was unable to locate the site where they used to lived. I asked Zeman about it, and he didn't know either nor did Monica.
Apparently, their town drove the cult out when the s*it hit the fan. There are many places that they could have resided at (many abandoned buildings and roads leading to mysterious places that dead-end into nothing), but no one I talked to knew for sure where exactly they resided, or if they did they kept quiet about it. Kind of like the story about the haunted hotel in Ubuyama.
Dude, we should get the group, or the members who are back in the States anyways, back together sometime. Just something to think about. Good luck at your new job, and post some more when you get a chance.
Posted by: Adam | January 20, 2006 3:10 PM
Posted on: January 20, 2006 15:10
wait a minute...wait a minute!! A White Castle in SFO??? I had no idea. Hell, I thought California was doing good with their first Sonic - but a White Castle? Damn!! What were them little burgers called? Sliders? Next time I'm in SFO, White Castle here I come.
Posted by: latimeria | January 21, 2006 1:07 AM
Posted on: January 21, 2006 01:07
We actually live at O'Farrell @ Polk, sometimes called Polk Gulch, sometimes Civic Center, sometimes Tenderloin. In any event, across from the O'Farrell Theatre (yes, that one) and the Great American Music Hall.
No White Castle in SF, but there is a great place called Sliders. There's also this place, which I've been dying to try: http://www.smoothasbutter.com/
I'd be up for diving and White Castle in LA when you get home.
Posted by: Chris Dempsey | January 21, 2006 4:04 PM
Posted on: January 21, 2006 16:04
Just a heads up, The guy taking a wizz is just a
guy hired to make sure taffic stops and gos with out hitting each other..They have no power what so ever to do anything to anyone. Mind you there more of a clue than most Nova teachers ;-}
Kiwi
Posted by: Dean | February 17, 2006 3:18 PM
Posted on: February 17, 2006 15:18