Peeing on the streets - common?

[briareos]

I stayed in Shinjuku where I was aghast at the number of people peeing on the streets, some even in broad daylight at 8 am. Is this common? The area I was in was kabukicho.

[nice gaijin]

The area I was in was kabukicho.
....yeahhhh.............

[Uncle Frank]

While shocked at first seeing this in Fukuoka, I decided it's a wonderful old Japanese custom. How much easier it is for a person with a weak bladder like myself to be able to haul out the hose anytime almost anywhere and shoot. Saved hours of painful holding and searching for a bathroom to use. Just find a tree or pole to lean on/hide behind (a bit) and let her rip. I was a little disappointed that bowel movements were not handled the same way; but that would have ment having to lug toilet paper everwhere. Feel free to vomit while peeing after a hard night of drinking; kill 2 birds with 1 stone as they say.

Uncle Frank

:blush:

[-Rudel-]

Ahhhh...you're just beginning to see the night owls appear out of the clubs! lol Remember those small bars are open ALL night through the mid morning hours!

[ArmandV]

I've never seen anyone taking a pee out in the open on the streets anywhere in Japan. I was lucky to be so spared.

[SushiShin]

This is common, believe me THIS IS COMMON.
Every time when i go out in Tokyo or Yokohama, i see people peeing on the streets, but mostly they are drunk (O.o')

[Pepe]

This is pretty common wherever you go. Even in countries where it is illegal - in these the culprits just tend to bother looking for a secluded (read: not in view of the police) spot. Unfortunately this often tends to be in the doorway of a business. There's a reason why many shop owners hose down their store every morning, and it's not because they're clean-freaks.

[bakaKanadajin]

I really REALLY don't get why people post this stuff. Like.. I heard.. I saw.. someone told me.. that..

- the Japanese jump in front of trains every day
- the Japanese piss in the streets
- the Japanese do this and that
- the Japanese have legalized teenage prostitution
- the Japanese won't sneeze on Wednesdays
- the Japanese bow 4.6 times per day

It's a given that, like many things in this world, any one of these things *might* have been true at some point in time. It's a given that somehow, somewhere, these rumors may have started with either a factual event or an interpretation of a factual event. But to make the jump and say that 'the Japanese', like all of them, do this, or to have expected that none of them do that, that it's an impossibility, is just crazy. Like why WOULDN'T they piss in the streets??

People piss in the streets here in Toronto all the time. Walking around Shinjuku myself many times last year, I can tell you that I smelled stale piss in the street corners WAY less than I do here or in other Western cities. I also saw way less garbage cans too. AND, less garbage.. hmm maybe the Japanese are ingesting their garbage as a means of keeping the streets clean?

These discussions move beyond the relam of common sense, and I think its because some Westerns assume that the orderly, efficient, homogenous, conformist Japanese can't POSSIBLY be doing things such as this, these are clearly foul, uncooth Western things.

Tell ya what, the Japanese do everything we do over here, EVERYTHING, because they're people too, and although they're not 'western', their way of life is every much as modern as ours if not moreso, so therefore they face the same problems and situations. The only real difference is they either find a way to do it more efficiently, or they do it with more personal discreetness. This means that when we finally hear about it, its a surprise because it's something we're just hearing about (yet it's been going on for ages) or they've taken it to the next level with their efficiencies and improvements.

There are two reactions I commonly hear from Westerners who've had limited exposure to Japanese culture.

'Oh those craaaazy Japanese' =)

or

'Oh.. those CRAZY Japanese' =O

[Mike Cash]

While it is a common practice, I feel I should point out that it is indeed illegal in Japan and the cops may haul you in if they catch you at it.

[AichiAlex]

I've seen it a few times, I've also seen someone get arrested for peeing on the streets, so while it may be common it is not legal.

[made of stone]

I rarely saw that in five years living around Osaka and Kobe (except from the odd extremely-drunken foreigner!!)

One year in Kanto, though, seemed very different, and I inadvertently witnessed many a 'plant watering' ceremony. Yes, on my odd trips (sometimes VERY odd!) into Shinjuku , but mostly out of my apartment window. My place there (beautiful, well-placed apartment, cheap rent...wonder why?!) was right opposite the 'prime patch' of the whole town - on the way home from both the station AND the izakaya/bar area...

It was a struggle managing to spend romantic late nights at home with my then-girlfriend, let me tell you! :relief: Took an awful lot of effort, and I think I did rather well, but then again I'm still single so perhaps not that well...? :(

Still I'd say from my limited travels in Japan that central London (not any other places I've been to in the UK) is x100 Shinjuku (and x1 rural Kanto lol)

'Tis all relative :-)

made of spent (pennies) :)

[bakaKanadajin]

It's illegal in pretty much any industrialized nation, so is spitting and littering, j-walking, lots of minor infractions. All depends on how badly the cops feel like busting you that day. 'When in Rome' doesn't directly apply to every situation.

[Goldiegirl]

Is J-walking legal in Japan? I saw a lot of people doing it. It's a ticket here if you get caught. My niece got caught but the police just scared her and took her name down and said it would be on her "permanent record"! She still thinks it's there, for someone to look up and find out that she crossed a street in the middle of the block and not at the crosswalk! :)

[made of stone]

Urinating 'al fresco' (outside) is not illegal here in the UK. It depends where you do it and (perhaps more importantly) who might see you do it. If it's in front of members of the public then it would either be a public order or indecency offence , and if it was against private property then they could caution or even arrest you under a number of different laws, though you'll be unlucky here to get more than a telling off (though I'm not saying that's necessarily right).

At the most basic level, spitting is no more illegal in the UK than sneezing. And 'crossing the road when the pedestrian crossing light is red' (as we like to call it!) isn't technically illegal either - the police wouldn't ever verbally warn you for that (unless you almost got hit by a car, in which case it'd be more like 'you idiot, you almost got hit by a car 'cause you didn't watch the traffic lights!!')

Btw, what does the J in 'J-walking' mean??

mos :)

[Goldiegirl]

J or Jay walking is slang for crossing the street in an illegal fashion, like not at an intersection or crosswalk etc. Jay was slang for a slow person, or a person who isn't used to city ways, like a "country bumpkin"! :)

[Mikawa Ossan]

Peeing in public...

I have only seen it done with my friends when there is no proper place to go, and it's an "emergency".

Jay Walking...

I don't actually know about the legality of it here, but I would assume that there's a law about it some place. My guess is that it's just simply not worth the police's time to write out a ticket for it. Also, assuming that your neice is a minor, I doubt they would want to, anyway.

Also, I was always under the impression that the "J" in jay walking was a word and not a letter. I always assumed that it was related to the expression "Jay bird".

[made of stone]

J or Jay walking is slang for crossing the street in an illegal fashion, like not at an intersection or crosswalk etc. Jay was slang for a slow person, or a person who isn't used to city ways, like a "country bumpkin"! :)

Many thanks Gg chan, long wondered that...

made of (finally, makes complete!!) sense :)

<edit> thanks for your valued input too, MO san! Mysteriouser and mysteriouser, though - what might a 'jay bird' be...? Good to see you around fella, btw *big wave*

[tigermilk]

I'd rather see that than what I saw on one of my many trips to Japan. Fortunately I've only seen it once, and it was in the Ikebukuro area. Just got off the Narita Express and was walking to the hotel when one fine local dropped his drawers in a under street walking tunnel. Took a dump right there. That pleasant pile of steaming waste was there for days.

I must say that I've had many a pee on the side of the road there while bike riding. But my western modesty has me find the nearest secluded area for that.

[ullvarg]

Its way more common to pee in the streets in Sweden and Denmark, than here in japan, I think ive seen it only a couple of times and done it my self ones here in japan after being pointed to a good spot to do it by a cop here in Sendai, during the big tanabata festival :)

[Pepe]

Urinating 'al fresco' (outside) is not illegal here in the UK. It depends where you do it and (perhaps more importantly) who might see you do it. If it's in front of members of the public then it would either be a public order or indecency offence , and if it was against private property then they could caution or even arrest you under a number of different laws, though you'll be unlucky here to get more than a telling off

Actually, you'd get arrested for public indecency (because your fishing tackle is exposed). Saw it happen two or three times whilst out drinking in Plymouth.

On a related note, if you want to see some of the most beautiful spots England has to offer, avoid Plymouth. If you like seeing drunk students pissing on themselves as they throw up cheap kebabs on each other, Plymouth is THE destination for you!

[Fel1city]

Have to laugh: had read this before work today, then driving home on the freeway (traffic very heavy) guy in car in front got caught short, pulled into the emergency lane, and watered for thousands to see!!! Then hopped back in his car and rejoined the traffic!!! Hysterical, in view of this thread. I laughed all the way home.

[briareos]

well, just for a laugh, i did manage to get a few photos of the perpetrators in action, caught in midstream.

[ArmandV]

The last person I say taking a piss in public was a girl on a sidestreet in Hollywood. Caught her bare butt in my headlights one night. Nice butt, too, I must add.

[Chi65]

Haha, that reminds on a walk in a german heath lately. It was a relatively frequented path, thus there was a certain car. But it looked rather locked, and thus I asked some passer bys.
All they did was laughing and suggesting to do it the "natural way" and that it is good for the plants. Not that I did not know it, but there was a relatively light forest around. . .

Anyhow, I finally found my place in the last moment, hoping for no one to turn around.

But men here also pee in the street, yet, if they sense someone coming, they hurry up or try to hide it. I have not yet seen anyone being arrested, but could imagine, if he was too extrovert with it. Towns stink much longer than woods indeed.

In times of long dresses, it was no problems for women either to do it beside rural streets. I was told, that this was pretty common.

I adore (and have fun too) in some japanese public l. . . though, with fresh flowers or water and bird's songs etc., particularly, when a few cabinets are together, playing quite a mixed concert, because of some automatic start by entering each one. Stops you from remembering your original reason, because it tickles more your laughter muscels ;-)

[Chris K]

Urinating 'al fresco' (outside) is not illegal here in the UK. It depends where you do it and (perhaps more importantly) who might see you do it. If it's in front of members of the public then it would either be a public order or indecency offence , and if it was against private property then they could caution or even arrest you under a number of different laws, though you'll be unlucky here to get more than a telling off (though I'm not saying that's necessarily right).
At the most basic level, spitting is no more illegal in the UK than sneezing. And 'crossing the road when the pedestrian crossing light is red' (as we like to call it!) isn't technically illegal either - the police wouldn't ever verbally warn you for that (unless you almost got hit by a car, in which case it'd be more like 'you idiot, you almost got hit by a car 'cause you didn't watch the traffic lights!!')
Btw, what does the J in 'J-walking' mean??
mos :)
we've even got alfresco 'urinals' on streetcorners in London now. Im not even sure if the're plumbed in, just a bit of shelter for a quick emptying of the bladder.http://www.jonco48.com/blog/urinal_20tech.jpg
not sure if they rise up out of the ground like the picture but apart from that the're very similar.
Haha, imagine being in the middle of 'it' when morning offically arrives and this starts to sink into the ground :D

[Mikawa Ossan]

I was driving northbound on highway Kokudou 23 in Anjou today in the middle of traffic, when we hit a red light. The truck driver in the lane to my left nonchalantly got out of his truck, proceded to the side of the road and relieved himself. He got back inside his truck just in time for the light, which had just turned blue (green).

The time was about 12:45 in the afternoon.

[SushiShin]

we've even got alfresco 'urinals' on streetcorners in London now. Im not even sure if the're plumbed in, just a bit of shelter for a quick emptying of the bladder.http://www.jonco48.com/blog/urinal_20tech.jpg....

Hehe this is wicked and awesome at the same time :o
Well it's a good invention, i wonder how long it will last.
Imagine there's some one peeing and the thing is going back to the ground :o

[Pepe]

This reminds of a funny story - my mum even made it into the NZ Herald.

We used to live across the road from Eden Park where the international rugby (in winter) and cricket (in summer) events are held. One summers eve, at the end of a long day's cricket, one punter decided to take a leak on our fence. Unfortunately for him, my mother was on the other side of the tall fence watering the garden. Once she realised what he was doing, she gave him the wet end of the hose. He promptly took off and engaged the help of a policeman to 'deal to the crazy woman'. The officer asked my mum what had happened, and after hearing her half of the story turned around and arrested the wet drunk for urinating in public.

Oh, how we laughed. The drunk didn't, but the rest of us did.

[Faustianideals]

I had a neighbor whom when high on crack decided to urinate on the street light next to my house. I grabbed my camera, videotaped it, called the police, and he was dealt with promptly. No excuse for that crap, especially in a neighborhood full of children.

[gaijinalways]

I*d say it*s somewhat common in Tokyo and some other ares of Japan. I caught a guy just finished up near my house at about 4 p.m.! Some of the old guys literally whip it out wherever and often during the day. People being drunk at night is another story.

[LateNight~*]

I actually saw a youtube blogger who videotaped a poor japanese man relieving himself behind a building. The youtuber was disgusted at how many times he has caught some japanese men doing that (according to him only Yakuza do it) so he puts them to shame by videotaping them. Of course he doesn't hunt them down to videotape them but when he catches them, he posts them all over the net.

[scorpion da black]

dude, every one pees in the middle of the street...

let us picture this...some one is taking a walk and suddenly he feels the burning urge to pee...he doesn't find any bath rooms so he pees on the ground....
:-)

[Derfel]

Oooh, an interesting thread, I once went to the janitor's storage room in my school and pissed into one of the bottles. Am i evil now? :D
Ok time to get serious, imo one should be able to hold it in for a while, its obviously quite quite embarrassing to start urinating in the middle of the city center. But why not do it when no one is watching, and there's no other solution?

[pipokun]

A stupid drunk young guy in Hiroshima urinatied in the middle of a pedestrian crossingn after the ceremony of the coming of age day. He took a provocative attitude to do in front of cops.
He was, of course, arrested. What a sweet twenty...

[Fel1city]

Male v female convenience: and I thought God was a woman

[FrustratedDave]

(according to him only Yakuza do it)
How misinformed most gaijin are when it comes to Japan.:okashii:

[Mike Cash]

(according to him only Yakuza do it)

He's a total ignoramus.

It is very common among truck drivers, with there very often being no other choice but to piss outside somewhere. I'll be honest with all of you; I piss outside more than I piss in toilets. It's just the nature of the work I do. And this factor is one of the reasons you see such a limited number of female truck drivers in Japan.



so he puts them to shame by videotaping them.

Your BS Detector didn't start screaming over that one? How can his surreptitious videotaping "shame" them? Or posting the videos unbeknownst to the people in them? We know that it is either surreptitious or that the people are not Yakuza. This is evident by the fact that he hasn't had his a$$ stomped to a pulp.

[Derfel]

Well it makes me wonder... why would yakuza have a habit of pissing outdoors? And why only yakuza?

[LateNight~*]

I have no idea Derfel. There was no explanation in his video of why only Yakuza but he did embarrass the piss of 'em. he he sorry i couldn't resist.

[Mike Cash]

Apparently you must not have read my post. Either that or you're impervious to logic and informed opinions.

[Derfel]

I've read it, just trying to follow the guy's way of thinking.

[bruno]

Where is the Ladies-sector ?? Chris.K ??

[GodEmperorLeto]

You guys apparently don't hang around drunks enough in your home countries. It is illegal to piss in public in Los Estados Unidos. However, on Friday and Saturday night in a college town, guys can and will urinate where they can when they need to. They just find better places to hide than the Japanese guys, apparently. I've seen drunken frat guys and plastered yuppies/hipsters peeing in an alley a couple times in Philly. But nobody is stupid enough to do it in public. The thing is, Westerners will generally have something to say if you whip it out in the middle of broad daylight and let 'er rip in public. However, the way the Japanese behave, I can honestly imagine, with ease, a businessman draining his hose in front of 10,000 people, and all of them pretend it isn't happening.

Then again, I've never been to Japan, so that's just a guess.

[ArmandV]

Well it makes me wonder... why would yakuza have a habit of pissing outdoors? And why only yakuza?

Duhhh, maybe to mark their territory?:spray:

[Sukotto]

when i traveled to Japan with a group a number of years ago we were informed by our friends that it was legal for males to urinate in the streets.

one US american went around with the camera and asked everybody in the group if they thought it should be legal for women to urinate in the streets. there were many joke responses from the guys. 'increased litter' was one reason against.


in the US it is not illegal to spit in public.

[Kyoto Returnee]

Have seen it often in both Japan and Australia.

Nothing wrong spending a busy Friday or Saturday night at a good club, leaving, only to feel the need to relieve one's self along the way during the wee early hours.

It's only natural.

I have only ever seen males pee in public in Japan, female aboriginies often do it in Cairns, although usually besides the rivers or creeks. It's very much comes naturally to them.

Not sure how female forum members feel about this... Opinions?

[Hopeanuoli]

Well I have never seen anyone in my country pee on the streets. But if they can't get to a toilet on time, then yeah, I suppose they can't help it really.

[Kyoto Returnee]

Well I have never seen anyone in my country pee on the streets. But if they can't get to a toilet on time, then yeah, I suppose they can't help it really.
Maybe to cold for the old boy:eek2:

[Fel1city]

Maybe to cold for the old boy:eek2:
Now now Aussie-san: not a Pommie-basher are we??
(They aren't doing all that well in Sri Lanka today : hee hee)

[Doc]

I hate to break it to people, but urinating in the streets is common in any country that has bars. It is better if you let that kind of crap happen because those type of people get tased by cops here in the end anyway.

:D

-Doc :wave:

[Kyoto Returnee]

I hate to break it to people, but urinating in the streets is common in any country that has bars.



EXACTLY!

I think we are talking about males..

Females would never do anything like that, would you girls.

[Doc]

I don't know...I've seen some pretty bizarre things women have done when they were drunk at a bar.

-Doc :wave:

[Annubis]

I have to admit I'm a bit of an alley cat. I'd pee anywhere no one was looking... hehe... but I figure there must be people watching everywhere you go... just think about google earth. Hehe... In the Cities of Montreal and Toronto, I know places no one looks... and they aren't too far from the clubing districts... hehe... so in emergencies I've marked my spot.

I'm glad I've had those experiences cuz here in Japan the toilets in the parks are sheltered kitty litters to me.. hehe... I'm so happy here.

I come from a city where men pee on trees and in bushes whenever they want. I think I saw someone here in Tokyo do that in my neighbourhood. HAHAHA!!

[moyashi]

last night saw a taxi cab pull over, the driver got out and took a leak.

Yes, older men are more prone to do this anywhere at anytime.

I even caught a perv once peeing on the front gate of a mainly girls high school !

IMHO, this is really a silly question to post ....

As for Jay-walking. I have no clue if it is illegal or not, but many old folk get killed monthly for doing it. The driver is a fault 100% and will go to jail.

So, the law is worthless even if it exists.

[Silveraden]

I stayed in Shinjuku where I was aghast at the number of people peeing on the streets, some even in broad daylight at 8 am. Is this common? The area I was in was kabukicho.
I am surprised with this thread... I've been in Japan for 2 years (in Fukushima) and people there are well disciplined... I did never heard anything like this..

[Chris K]

oops, in this era of the mobile phone, I totally forgot about the original street urinals
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/d/dc/London_phone_box.jpg

[Kyoto Returnee]

I have to admit I'm a bit of an alley cat. I'd pee anywhere no one was looking... hehe... but I figure there must be people watching everywhere you go... just think about google earth. Hehe... In the Cities of Montreal and Toronto, I know places no one looks... and they aren't too far from the clubing districts... hehe... so in emergencies I've marked my spot.

I'm glad I've had those experiences cuz here in Japan the toilets in the parks are sheltered kitty litters to me.. hehe... I'm so happy here.

I come from a city where men pee on trees and in bushes whenever they want. I think I saw someone here in Tokyo do that in my neighbourhood. HAHAHA!!

Ahahahahahaha.. :okashii:

That is such a cute and funny post Annubis:p

You little Alleycat you:gohan: