The Proper Way to Pee in Japan

Do you remember the episode of South Park where Leopold “Butters” Stotch was seen using the urinal at school, holding his shirt up and his pants around his ankles? Sure, he may have looked as if he was having fun, what with the jaunty little tune he was singing and all, but while we all had a good laugh at this, if he were in Japan, things might be very, very different.

As the above graphic displays, dropping your pants at a urinal is clearly frowned upon in the land of the rising sun. The proper way is to clearly keep your pants firmly fastened around your waist with your hands placed around your member, presumably so you can control where your stream of urine ends up. In addition, the image supposes that by adhering to these strict rules of urinary etiquette you will be a much happier Japanese lad.

While this is a good lesson, it is rather humorous that Japanese children – or any children, for that matter – need a detailed description telling you the proper way to urinate. Children are potty trained pretty young nowadays, so one would imagine that the child’s parents would instill in them a sense of right and wrong when it comes to urinating in public. Of course, personal responsibility doesn’t really exist when we have signs telling us how to urinate properly.

In the end, proper or not, if we’re to believe the Internet, pulling your pants down to pee “feels good, man.”