Japan and Sex

Japan from an outsiders point of view may seem to be a very conservative society. The topic of sex is rarely spoken out so openly for fear that they will be perceived as perverted people.

The sex industry in Japan is vast and different compared to the West. In America the pornography industry does not vary so much. You usually could find pornographic content and products in sex stores in an alley, a playboy magazine in your local super market, sex services on the streets or escorts for the high paying clientele.

In Japan however, whatever your fantasy is, you can live it. From bondage, to Hentai (pornographic animation) to sex houses, there is even a local suburb that hosts some odd fetishes that we may not even think off.

Its best if you discover what we mean and hope you enjoy this video more than we did.

Warning: There is explicit content shown in this video, watch at your own risk.

Thailand - Do's & Don'ts

Although the population of Thailand are very tolerant people, there are many 'do's and don'ts that visitors need to remember when in the country.

First of all, public affection is frowned upon, it goes as far as holding hands, but no more than that. Secondly, you cannot touch anyone on the head, as the head is seen as the highest part of the body, literally and figuratively, and because of this, it is also a very bad thing to sit or step on a pillow as that is where the head lies. It is also considered rude to point the sole of your foot at another person, so if you're sitting down, you cannot have your sole facing out; this is because the sole of your foot is the lowest part of your body, and therefore considered to be taboo.

Of course, the same good manners that are employed in your own country, are also considered good manners in Thailand too, the obvious ones being to say thank you, or help people when needed. However some extra taboos are things such as, taking off your shoes before entering a home or especially a temple, don't ever disrespect the royal family as they are considered very high in status, and avoid getting angry over anything, as that is seen as very rude and disrespectful.

Thailand - Pa Dong Tribe

In Thailand, there is a traditional tribe where the women are known as Giraffe women because of their unique necks caused by the coil of the rings. This tribe has taken refuge in the country in order to avoid persecution from the Burmese government. As you watch the video below, you will get to know the details of why they are being persecuted. The Pa Dong tribe are humble and kind people. Their refuge in Thailand has lead them to become a tourist destination, where foreigners are intrigued by their customs. The girls are the only ones who wear the neck rings. They start this process when they are young because their bones are most flexible. The girls do this as they believe that beauty is worth the pain. The long neck look is an illusion. This is because the the heavy rings around their neck pushes the shoulder down, and therefore the neck looks elongated. The rings are a tribal identity for the women. The women don't see that the rings prevent them to who they might be but rather the rings represent who they are. Hope you all enjoy this video.

Indian head wobble

Every culture and race comes with a certain stereotype. These stereotypes can be used to identify who we are. We can have a laugh about it, and similar to our other post about Russians and their vodka we have decided to focus on an amazing phenomenon known as the Indian head wobble.

The head wobble is like a body language that Indians use to communicate. You can say several things with just a simple head wobble, for example, a fast and continuous head wobble means that the person really understands. The more vigorous the wobbling, the more understanding there is. A quick wobble from side to side means "yes" or "alright". A slow soft wobble, sometimes accompanied by a smile, is a sign of friendship.

There are also a lot of other dialects in India, but fortunately for them, with a simple gesture of the head wobble people instantly understand what this act means; actions do speak louder then words after all.

For more details about this topic please follow the link below.

Eunuchs In India

Life isn't as always 'straight' as we want it to be.


Life may seem confusing, even more so when we talk about gender. It is assumed that everyone is born to be a boy or a girl. When they grow up they conform to societies expectations.

But what if you were born between this line of gender, or later in life you may find yourself steering off this path.

This leads itself to another realm.

Today's post delves itself into another realm as I came across an article on Eunuchs. Eunuchs are people, generally males who have castrated their manhood in order to become a woman. On some cases it can be about baby boys who were born with a dysfunctional genitalia.

Like all occupations, they hold a status in our society. In India, Eunuchs have an occupation that stems into the tradition and value belief systems of its society. They play a vital role and are paid handsomely for their work, which is having a duty to give blessings at weddings and new births.
 
The following article talks more into detail about Eunuchs history.


http://www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/2022

Witch doctors

Who do you go to when you're feeling sick and in need for medical advice? Who do you go to see when you have financial and personal problems? In our society we often have someone for everything. Teachers to teach students. Accountants to deal with our money. Mechanics to deal with our cars and so on.

In African societies, witch doctors are part of their daily lives. We may feel skeptical about them and may not believe in witch doctors because of its practices which conflicts with science.

The following article tells us a chilling story about a the owner of a farm and how he went bankrupt. He also provides details about witch doctors and their practices. It opens up a discussion and lets us get involve with the debate.

For example, if the practices of the witch doctors do not work then how else did people back in the medieval times get through?

Hope you enjoy the article just as much as we did. Tell us what you think.

http://www.squidoo.com/africanwitchdoctors

Beauty in Africa

We'd just like to take note that this post is not aimed at generalizing the idea of beauty in African culture.

Our main focus for this post is on a video that we have come across about the Mursi Tribe of Southern Ethiopia. It features a woman exploring the tribes customs and values where she reveals the ideas behind the lip plate (see video below).

This lip plate is the tribes symbol for beauty, where the bigger the lip plate, the more beautiful you are.

In a way this parallels itself to western culture as well as we go from a simple piercing of the ears to extreme mutilation, for example having surgery to create elf ears, or more so as we know, the famous snake man and tiger man.

Chinese Cultural Taboos

This post we are focusing on overall Chinese cultural taboos.


The following link is an interesting article that we found that may arouse your interest.


http://chineseculture.about.com/od/chinesefestivals/a/Chinese-Taboo.htm


It identifies many different Chinese cultural taboos from an everyday perspective, giving examples from work, food, celebrations, gifts etc.


The most amusing thing we found was the idea that you should not leave chopsticks standing up in a bowl of rice in a restaurant, this is because it is believed it will bring bad luck to the owners of the restaurant, as it looks similar to incence sticks being put in an urn used to bring offerings to past ancestors.


In our point of view, living in Australia, putting chopsticks in a bowl of rice is just convenient and more hygienic than placing it on the table.


Tell us what you think?

Cultural taboo

What is it? Well first of all, in this world of ours we have many different cultures. As a result, as human beings we fail to appreciate and acknowledge each others differences.


Why is it that one thing may seem normal to one culture and yet seem weird to another.


Why do we all see things differently but yet we live under the same sky and breathe the same air?


We believe that if two people went on the same exact journey, then the end result would still have the two people see things differently - and this is due to their culture.


This blog aims to explore topics and ideas that occur in different cultures and nationalities with an open mind and in an environment where we can all discuss these issues without being prejudiced towards one another.


Attached is a picture that we think our layout would look like:

We hope you enjoy this blog and contribute your opinions and ideas.