It's not just teenage schoolgirls who conform to the group, but of course they are an extreme case which makes them easier to observe. Everyone conforms to one or more groups. Sometimes in obvious ways such as buying Louis Vitton and Chanel bags, or various other famous and expensive brand name goods and clothes, and all the time in much less obvious, far more subtle ways, most of which I'm sure I miss. Ways of speaking and behaving in various situations.

Now all this is fairly obvious, and you may ask, 'What's your point?' Every country and culture demands conformity to its modes of behavior, to a certain extent. Some countries demand more - North Korea, China - and some less - the USA and some European countries, perhaps.

In Japan being different doesn't show your individuality, it shows you are outside the group. If you're outside the group you're on your own.

So Japanese men spit not because they have "weak throats", but because other Japanese men spit.

Now the Chinese are also great expectorators and someone once told me that the Chinese spit because of the idea of "mouth devils". In polite societies the spit, the phlegm, is..err.. swallowed. It does sound kind of disgusting now I come to think about it, maybe spitting it out isn't such a bad idea after all... No, anyway, back to the Chinese. Now the Chinese have thought about the human body and the forces that regulate it longer than most people. They probably decided that phlegm is a substance the body is rejecting, and so they eject it. The body is trying to keep itself balanced - yin and yang. The phlegm is an unbalancing element, or the by-product of an unbalancing element. To swallow it would be detrimental to ones health.

The thought of a billion people spitting doesn't bare thinking about. I think I read somewhere that the Chinese government was trying to curtail the practice because of the obvious health risks it causes - TB immediately comes to mind. So in the bigger cities we can now see "No Spitting" signs

Here in Japan I have seen "No Smoking" signs. I have seen signs for "No Playing of Music", "No Hazardous Materials", "No Pets", "No Mobile Phones", "No Playing", but I've never seen a "No Spitting" sign. Now that doesn't mean there aren't any, but I've never seen one. I wonder why? There are smoking areas in most stations in Tokyo so why not spitting areas too? They could have a big spittoon and all the guys could have a good hoick and a gob. Clear those weak throats of theirs. Or perhaps incorporate a spittoon into the smoking areas; a large hole in the floor with a tap to flush it out once in a while.

Now you may say to me "Hey dude! Take a chill pill. It's no big deal," and you may be right, but it's one of my pet hates, and the best way to deal with a pet hate is to suck it up, chew it up, and spit it out!




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