https://www.india.com/news/india/india-among-top-10-countries-with-worst-handwashing-culture-know-who-stands-first-3981527/amp/
So I ran into this article.
Now I’m a bit skeptical, since data from countries like China, US, India will depend massively on the region. However I still found it strange that rich, developed countries like Korea (though they only recently became rich), Japan, Italy, The Netherlands apparantly have such poor hygiene standards.
Does this match with your experience, or is it a bit more complex?
20 comments
If I got a yen for every time I witnessed someone either just wetting their fingertips or not washing their hands at all, I could probably buy a bottle of beaujolais nouveau.
Maybe it’s a cultural aspect that I can’t seem to get passed but not having hot water anywhere and occasionally no soap in public rest rooms is unacceptable to me.
JR East has no right to be talking about corona prevention measures if they can’t even provide soap in their bathrooms.
While we’re at it, covid basically forced everyone to admit hand dryers are unhygienic so might as well get rid of them and have paper towels.
Most people don’t wash their hands well after the bathroom. 2 seconds under running water doesn’t count.
If there’s soap, lucky. If there is soap + tissues = jackpot 😂 many carry small handkerchiefs.
It makes sense. I’ve heard older Japanese men are pretty lazy and ignorant when it comes to hygiene. If it weren’t for their wives cleaning up after them just imagine how bad it’d be!
Take a look at the complaint thread in this sub. It’s a common topic of discussion that many people don’t wash their hands well (much to the disgust of witnesses).
Yeah I make it a point to always wash my hands (with at least water, soap if possible) if I touch something potentially dirty (like playground amenities, animals, garbage, my privates, etc). Just because it doesn’t look dirty doesn’t mean it isn’t.
Which irks me when I see men going to the loo, take a piss, and just run water on their fingertips and consider it a job well done. I know yours is very small, but please wash the whole hand lol.
IDK why people say that about Japan, my husband is a hygiene fanatic. It seems like he wants to take a shower just about every time he sweats. Bathing in Japan is practically a ritual. If you’ve ever spent much time in onsens or public baths you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Yes, it’s true. All of it. Without exception.
I WFH full time now, but at my previous companies, I would often find myself reeling in horror when my male colleagues would stagger out of the cubicles after making the most awful sounds like pouring concrete, and merely genuflect piously in the general direction of the hot water faucets and soap dispensers.
I don’t know what the OLs got up to, the HRE Manager said that I wasn’t allowed in there.
To be perfectly frank, I can see why everyone prefers bowing, instead of a firm, moist handshake.
I had a medically complex child during the height of the pandemic. We go to the local university hospital quite frequently.
I see hospital staff using the same restrooms and just once I’ve seen one of them to actually stop to wash their hands with soap. Most do the “1sec finger tip rinse in cold water” or simply skip the wash altogether. You can guess what the regular folks (patients) do or don’t…
I used to feel so frustrated and angry at the sight. Sigh.
As a Dutch person I can say, covid really has shown us that people aren’t as hygienic as we think lol
The whole “wetting fingers for two seconds” thing exist in the women’s restroom too and it always disgusted me especially since I’m a clean freak. I never wanted to touch the doorknobs even before Covid because it’s just gross… Thankfully most places at least have soap in the restrooms now!
Well… When you’re on the trains and holding the handrails, you’re pretty much touching other people’s genitals.
If I had ¥100 for every time I’ve seen a Japanese person wash their hands with soap in the entire time I’ve lived here I think I might have enough to buy two X-furaido poteto at Ministop on my way home. *Maybe*.
Anecdotal, yes, but a while back at work the soap bottle outside the staff toilet ran out of soap. I started washing my hands in the sink in the staff room instead after using the toilet and waiting to see how long it would take before someone refilled the bottle. It took almost two *months* before more soap was added to that bottle. The bottle is clear. You can look at it and see if it’s empty or not. I always suspected that I was the only one using the soap regularly, but that was what really sold the point to me. I’ll come out of that bathroom at the same time as someone who just took a loud, stinking shit and they’ll still only sprinkle the water on their tips and leave.
I swear to god this school’s soap expenses must have skyrocketed since I started working here, suddenly they have refill the bottle more than once every two years.
Yes, the article seems to be correct. I noticed that quite a few Japanese men and men from other Asian countries do not seem to wash their hands after using the restroom.
I’ve seen them hold their thing and pee with one hand while staring at their smartphone with the other and pee all over the floor and hand. Then wipe that pee on their phone and walk out. Disgusting.
I don’t think the lack of hot water can be emphasized enough in winter…even I find it difficult to wash my hands when my bathroom sink takes 1min to finally churn out hot water.. I suffer from Reynauds and washing hands in ice cold water several times every day is excruciatingly painful. I would wager that has a LOT to do with the two second hand wetting phenomenon….just saying.
I would have to say that the Japanese have higher personal hygiene standards than the US, or at least very similar. The public toilets are much cleaner and more prevalent than in the US. Full-on baths (ofuro) are much more popular here in Japan. Infectious disease is pretty much controlled in both countries. Honestly, I haven’t thought about it much. I do have some habits that my Japanese family frown on….like double dipping…but I manage.
the amount of times I see women coming out of the stalls and go to the sink to not wash their hands but go straight to fixing their hair, makeup, and clothes. If you’re a woman you’re definitely touching something in that region when you go to the bathroom and I just *shudder*
I see a lot of people cough or sneeze into their hands too…
Drops of water falling onto your fingers while you race out of the restroom =/= washing hands.
Ngl washing my hands without soaps at most places here feels pointless