Woe betide those that ignore this and sit at a table with a tissue packet on it. The Ugly Singaporean will come back and tell you, “I put tissue there already what! Cannot see ah?”. Thereafter, you can choose to either docilely get up and hunt for another table, or just ignore the sonofabitch.

Bicycle theft was not a concept.

Well, my wife had her bicycle stolen in Japan, next to an unmanned train stop in our small town.

It’s true that it’s rare though. My boss couldn’t believe it – he thought she’d just forgotten where she’d parked it.

The most annoying part of the whole thing, however, was when I was questioned by a (friendly) cop, who told me that, “A lot of Russians roam around these parts,” a rather xenophobic statement that seemed to imply that no good, law-abiding Japanese would ever steal something, oh no.

Now this makes it more reasonable- queuing takes sacrifice and planning, it shouldn’t be earned just by a piece of tape.

I wish queuing here in the US was more relaxed, but I think one of the big problems would be the scalpers. Money driven, I think they would be the first ones looking to “cheat” the system. 

In fact, there is a very specific list of rules you must follow. At the local home stadium where I live, the rules include: no queuing before 6pm on the day before the match. Then, once you have placed your tape down, there are periodic “spot” checks by stadium staff.  They occur at pre-arranged times, usually 9pm, 11pm, 6 am the next morning, then 9 am. If there is nobody from your party (at least 1 person) standing near the tape during a spot check, the staff will consider your reservation abandoned, tear up your tape and you will lose your spot. But by about mid-morning, fans start to trickle in, and they just kill a few hours in front of the stadium with a picnic… Drink beers, eat some yakitori and soba noodles… And when the gates open 2.5 hours before the match starts, they go in to their favorite spot behind the goal, and set up shop with banners, flags, musical instruments, ladders, you name it…

Oh, and in all my time here and going to watch footy (I’ve been a season ticket holder for several years), I’ve never, EVER, not once seen a Japanese hooligan. I’ve never ever once seen a streaker, a fight break out, or even a verbal altercation for that matter. Fans here are ridiculously polite. They don’t even call down the other team during the match. They just cheer for their own side.

I once asked a German why they don’t queue up nicely for buses. They replied it didn’t matter if you got on that bus or not, because there’d be another one along in three minutes.

but apparently they’re on the decline