Wash Your Hands Japan, or This Guy Will Dance Again

by

Unicef just scared every little child into not washing their hands by coming out with this dance video with “renowned Japanese dancer Kaiji Moriyama” who “choreographed a dance for a public service announcement designed to teach children the principles of good hand washing.”

wash-your-hands-song

This video was made because of the swine flu, and because children don’t wash their hands. Also, apparently this video thought hand washing just wasn’t fun enough either, which is why they’ve turned it into a dance. GREAT.

wash-your-hands-song2

A while back, when this whole Swine Flu thing got started, I was going to write one of those “controversial” posts on how Japan was way too worried about the Swine flu, and how they were never going to have a problem with it. Granted, I knew they, and everyone else probably would have some kind of problem, but it’s always fun to write things that will get a lot of angry comments. So, I thought this was a great opportunity to write about the Swine flu and Japan, and why I think Japan should quit worrying about it so much.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=825gGELjB98']

Why Japan Won’t Have a Problem with the Swine Flu

  1. Culturally, things tend to be a lot more clean, and people tend to be a bit more anal about things (eww, not that anal!).
  2. When someone is sick (or going to someplace that might have a lot of sick people), it’s common to wear a facemask to help protect yourself.
  3. They have Swine Flu fighting business suits (that don’t even cover important areas…)
  4. Japan is an island, and slightly xenophobic, which means less people will be coming in with the Swine Flu.
  5. Japan is a 1st world country, and like all 1st world countries the Swine Flu has a death rate lower than the normal flu.
  6. People in Japan don’t handshake so much like we do in the West.
  7. Kissing isn’t as common. ewww, you like giirrrrrls.
  8. There’s a ton of emphasis on going to the doctor / hospital the moment you get sick. Seriously, I’ve never seen so many people go to the doctor just for a cold. Very good preventative thinking, I suppose.
  9. Moriyama (the guy in the hand washing video) will be there to dance the flu away, if he has to.
  10. Robots will take the place of any Japanese human who comes down with the Swine Flu.

See? Nothing to worry about, except for the guy who choreographs weird dances and songs for dirty children that don’t wash their hands.

[Header Image]

  • http://carrotlove.com Mai

    That video made me saddddd :(

  • http://www.vietamins.com Viet

    YOU DIDN'T WASH YOUR HANDS PROPERLY. AND NOW YOU ARE SICK. D:

    you should be sad.

  • http://www.vietamins.com Viet

    I know what I want to be for Halloween now.

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    Will you walk around with soap on your hands and dance, too?

  • http://www.vietamins.com Viet

    Of course. Are you sad that you didn't think of it first?

  • kanmuri

    Wearing face masks is really common here in Japan but it is totally ineffective. Because:
    1. They remove them all the time to eat, or talk.
    2. To be effective masks should be changed 3 times a day because when they become humid, they are nice nests for virus and bacterias; some Japanese people wear the same mask over and over. Totally pointless.

  • Sosa

    I love how governments think in general. If they made more videos teaching kids to not do many different things, I'd be better off; like not following the five second rule! lol ごめんなさい mother…

  • Kamizushi

    I'm scared.

  • Kamizushi

    But not because of the flu

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    Extra sad because I already have the coat and hat in my wardrobe!

  • http://i-married-a-yellow-monkey.blogspot.com/ Deanna

    So all Japanese kids really are engachou, then. Just like us dirty Americans. Yes!

  • http://www.ikindalikelanguages.com lyzazel

    -1. They have a population of over 120,000,000 with over 330 people in every square kilometer which makes it packed.

  • http://www.feitclub.com feitclub

    I take it you haven't heard that Japan has been in full-on panic mode about the “new flu” (as they call it) for months now? Schools in Kansai closed for an entire week in May simply as a precaution, which makes me laugh because now that the flue really IS all around us, schools are open. Still, at the first sign of an infected student they will keep entire grades at home out of fear of transmission.

  • jonny

    Yeah, they close the schools and let the kids roam around the city infecting everyone else. Why they think high school kids are going to sit around their house when they don't have school is beyond me.

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    Definitely have been following, but I still think it's a bit ridiculous that they're so worried. If any group of people are good at worrying a lot, it's Japan :(

  • Anon

    My life will never be the same after watching that. It has scarred my brain.
    … Now I must go wash my hands…

  • http://www.vietamins.com Viet

    Do you also have two little girls in your closet?

  • ducdigital

    Hi folks. Im interesting into mixi.jp, i heard that you give out invitation. Can someone send me an invitation to “duc at ducdigital dot com” ?

    Thank you very much much!

  • http://www.narrativedisorder.com/ Danielle

    Nice ideas, Koichi but very, very far from the reality.

    Re: no. 2 – Kanmari's point about the constant removal of the facemasks is an excellent point, they are virtually useless.

    Re: 8 – The ugly truth here is that, while children, the elderly and non-workers attend doctors extraordinarily often, their processes for staying home from work when sick actually encourage the sick to lie about their disease and not only come to work anyway but not pursue treatment at all:

    There is no such thing as 'sick days' – any sick days are taken out of your annual leave

    If you are diagnosed with the flu you cannot return to work until you have a certificate from your doctor stating that it has been a minimum of five days since you had a fever.

    Why not just not tell your boss? No chance, since the health care system is funded mostly by your work and there are no privacy laws protecting your helath information – your work is told everything, immediately.

    So, the only way to make sure you don't lose a week of your precious annual leave? Don't go to a doctor, don't get treatment and head in to work, face mask on but taken off with every word spoken :(

    Re: no. 4 – Japan IS a tiny island with many, many people very close together = disease spreads quickly and even if the tourism TO the country is low (though I'd want to see figures, there) the Japanese are KEEN tourists and are constantly returning from other countries and so could bring it in themselves (which is exactly what happened: a school group returned from a trip to New Zealand with the flu in tow)

    Also, I'm not sure whether your number 1 point is something you can assume without pointing out examples. I doubt Japan is worse than other countries because of different behaviours but I think you may be wearing your Japan-o-phile coloured glasses claiming this one. Sure, public toilets are definitely cleaner than in the US or Australia (except for the old-style hole in the floor ones which you can smell from miles away in even the best buildings) but there often is no soap or hand drying method in those toilets (moisture is a growth medium) so we use the little towels we carry around and then return them to our bags; people here sneeze openly; foot-sweat (more moisture) is exchanged in high traffic public areas wherever shoes are removed (often on tatami which absorbs the moisture from the feet and then we sit on it and put our hands where the feet have walked as we drink too much shouchu and lean back happily lol) and then we eat with those hands… ; people don't stay home when sick.

    Of course, the reason noone should be over-hyped about the Swine flu is because it is a nastier experience but is no worse, statistically, than the standard flu.

  • http://2nihon.com 2nihon

    Forget swine flu. After watching that video, I think I have brain flu.

  • http://luckyhill.wordpress.com/ elisabel

    When I saw that video, I thought, “they need to make one reminding ADULTS to wash their hands!” I admit, I had assumed Japanese would have much, much better hygiene habits than Americans. But now that I live in Japan, at least when it comes to hand washing it seems about the same. I'm thinking of all the times I've seen women leave the bathroom without washing their hands; whether I'm at work, the mall, the train station…and people sneezing into their bare hands rather than their arms…I wonder if adults do it to rebel against all the hygiene messages they got as children.

  • bigbossnlo

    Why is he wearing a dress with clouds on it?

  • http://twitter.com/BeNiceToAnime K.C.

    Why would anyone want to dance while washing their hands????

  • Nastia

    LOL at least they shouldve made it more exciting.. like the music.. mmm some electro or techno beats? hahahah and in some parts it seems like hes talkin in spanish lol

  • narutobleach111

    that video is weird

  • Ian_R

    This is the greatest thing I have seen from Japan since Spirited Away. The director must literally have decided there was no other way to get the message across than by being jocular about it. It just pokes fun of itself! The music, hilarious onomatopoeia's, and all. Not to mention, the children really don't look happy…

    Thanks Tofugu!

  • kokochan

    Eye bleach, I now need eye Bleach
    .__.

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  • http://twitter.com/ryuuzaraki jace brown

    yeah… some stereotypes tend to just play themselves out, dont they

    lol

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  • KimChi+SuShi=<3

    Did anyone notice the death grip that dancing guy had on that little girls hand at the end of the video? …O.o

  • ～

    I’ll try to keep it short:

    I live and work in Kyushu. At a JHSchool.

    -Kids don’t wash their hands in the winter because the water is ice-cold and the soap consists of bars that scrape any skin remaining from the frigid temps off. Kinda-sorta can’t blame them, but ewww….

    -No one has taught the adults or children that sneezing and coughing into one’s elbow is better than sneezing or coughing into another’s face. My face feels dirrrrrrrty in cold/flu season. Icky.

    ***(Next point is SUPER gross, proceed with caution)

    Everyone seems to think it’s better to snort their half-dried snot back up into their sinuses, loudly and in public, rather than blowing their nose and being done with it. The amount of people that end up sick the entire winter seems astronomical, likely because they don’t expel the nasty that is keeping them congested. Why they find this public, LOUD, snorting-of-nasty to be acceptable, well, that’s for you to judge. Hate to think it’s doctor-approved…..shudder……

    I personally don’t bother at all with a face mask, which hoards of people negatively judge me for, I’m sure. But, I’m not the dumb-ass who’s sick all winter with some sort of months-long congestion, either. I take care of myself, thanks:

    -Use a humidifier at night.

    -Take ONE F-ING DAY (more than that, I’m begging you…) of sick leave if you’re sick and sleep it off, if nothing else…..plz don’t come to work, sick, dribbling nasty all over the place and looking miserable. F-ing take a day off, fo’ serious. Damn.

    -Just don’t touch your face. At all. If a virus gets anywhere near your face, one of the many membranes there will take it in an get you sick. Just don’t touch your face, right-o!

    ‘k, I’m done. It’s been a looooong, nasty-filled winter. let spring and its lovely pollen and mold enchant us all.

    (I love Japan, btw, but it felt SO GOOD to type the above out. Thanks for reading this far down….)

  • just_an_otaku_passing_by

    Too late to post, but oh well….

    I was in Japan when the swine flu broke out, and really, there was no big problem. I didn’t see Kaiji Moriyama dance though…. >.<