Japanese children don’t know how to poop and pee properly?
Mainichi’s WaiWai column is reporting a huge toilet crisis in Japanese schools:
It’s kids way of wee-weeing that’s surprising some, with one elementary school first grade teacher saying that half the 18 boys in his class dropped their trousers around their ankles and exposed the lower halves of their bodies every time they spent a penny.
“Up until a few years ago, you’d get two or three kids a class like that every year, but I’m surprised just how quickly the number of kids who urinate that way has proliferated,” the teacher tells Sunday Mainichi.
“And, you know what, there are so many kids who have no idea how to use a urinal and will only go about their business on a Western-style toilet. Some kids don’t like urinals because they feel exposed, but I really do get the feeling that most of these boys simply have no idea how men are supposed to dispose of their bodily wastes.”
Many young school children refuse to use bathrooms by themselves. Others don’t know they’re supposed to flush toilets after they use them because they’re so used to having a parent, nurse or teacher do it for them.
“There are some girls who dislike using toilets because of fears about whoever may have sat on the seat before they did, which is kind of understandable. Some of the other reasons kids give for refusing to the toilet aren’t, though, like those who hate the seat being cold,” the teacher says.
“Our school only has Western-style toilets but, unlike a lot of homes, the seats aren’t heated and because of that kids won’t use them because they don’t like the feel of cold hard steel on their butts.”
Fastidiousness about cleanliness, to the point of obsession, is driving kids almost potty and ensuring they don’t use the, well, potty. Others with a keen sense of smell become standouts at the slightest whiff of an unpleasant odor. Still more feel the need to use an entire toilet roll to wipe their butts after each sitting in the hope they’ll remove any last vestige of poop remaining.
It doesn’t phase me anymore. The Japanese can talk about poop and pee all day, and I won’t have any trouble eating my meals. Anyway, read the rest of this amazing story at Mainichi.
