Things the Japanese Do Better: Pranks.

There are things in this world that the Japanese will always do better than anyone else. Design a reliable car. Craft a perfect sushi roll. Develop an addictive video game. Math.

But that is all old news.

We need to break new ground. We have to answer the questions plauging the minds of inquisitive people everywhere. We must know:

Do the Japanese PRANK better?

Consider the following examples and judge for yourself:





(This one is a bit longer. Make sure and wait around for "Mission II" starting around 3:30.)

You know what's ticking me off today? Butts.

I recently went on a trip that had me sitting through the finest in Tacoma traffic. I hear rumors that Tacoma is enjoying a bit of a rebirth of late. Good for them!

I don't see it.

But that is not the point.

The point is, while idling through Seattle's smelly step-sister to the south, I observed five seperate instances of drivers tossing cigarette butts out their car window. I suppose it wouldn't have bothered me so much if it was nothing more than a string of random occurances. But, as it turns out, it is something as common as overcast skies during a Seattle summer.

Somewhere between the invention of the filtered cigarette and 5 minutes ago, an unwritten rule was established that gave smokers carte blanche when it comes to butt disposal.

Smoking at the bus stop? Flick it into the bushes. Smoking in your car? Flick it into the next lane. Smoking outside the bar? Flick it to the curb. Smoking at your buddy's house? Please place butt gently into tattered old Folgers can by the back door and wipe your feet before re-entering.

And just to prove this isn't something I am just making up, here is a little experiment. Go anywhere in downtown Seattle - hell, go downtown in any city. And once you reach Anywhere, USA, look around you. I bet my little brother's milk money that it will take you a mere seconds to find that first used cigarette butt - that seemingly little, innocuous yellow or white cylindar tucked in a crack, corner or crevice. In fact, I bet that image is so common that you never stop to think about how disgusting it is to have entire cities infested with the nicotine keepsakes of so many smokers.

Do all smokers do this? Of course not.

Well, at least I hope not.

Do enough of them do this to make me write a blog about it. You betcha.

Bottomline? It is awful habit. And by that I do not mean smoking. There are other blogs out there, I am sure, that will preach about that little doozie. I am talking about smokers disrespecting everyone around them by throwing their trash around as though it is their right.

It is not.

And it ticks me off.