Tofugu» dancing http://www.tofugu.com A Japanese Language & Culture Blog Fri, 11 Apr 2014 22:42:45 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.2 Wash Your Hands Japan, or This Guy Will Dance Again http://www.tofugu.com/2009/10/15/wash-your-hands-japan-or-this-guy-will-dance-again/ http://www.tofugu.com/2009/10/15/wash-your-hands-japan-or-this-guy-will-dance-again/#comments Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:37:59 +0000 http://www.tofugu.com/?p=1929 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://www.tofugu.com/2009/10/15/wash-your-hands-japan-or-this-guy-will-dance-again/feed/ 46