But in some countries, you'd be wrong: In Japan, for example, it's considered extremely rude to blow your nose in public. Instead, people will just sit for hours and sniffle away. All those Japanese Zen gardens and meditation techniques that you assumed were for attaining enlightenment? They actually grant people the inner peace to put up with the constant sniffing.
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Seriously, what do you think the green parts represent?
Similar nose-blowing taboos exist in Korea. And when you think about it, this attitude isn't all that weird. If you're sitting on public transportation after an unwise visit to the taco stand outside the adult bookstore, nobody's going to toss you an adult diaper and say, "Dude, just get rid of it already," no matter what loud, unpleasant growling noises your stomach might be making. And that's what blowing your nose seems like to most people in these countries. You're ejecting a mass of gross, disease-ridden bodily fluids into a bit of paper and then putting that bit of paper back into your pocket. Frankly, I'm not surprised that the Japanese make fun of us with racist party gags.
Debito Arudou
"The Gaijin Nose: Soon with exploding snot!"
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