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plutherusWhen my brother came back from Japan, he told a story which has stuck with me, as it neatly summarizes one of the differences between Americans and the rest of the world.
He was visiting a zoo, and at one point the visitors can go right up to the bars in the back of an enclosure which held a lion. He asked the zookeeper how, since there's no barrier between the people and the bars, how they can keep people from reaching through the bars to where the lion is. The zookeeper looked at him incredulously and replied "There's a lion in the cage."
Apparently, such stupidity is so uncommon in Japan that he didn't understand why anyone would reach their hand into a cage with a lion in it.
I was reminded of this story when I read this article in the Register-Guard, about a drunk US soldier who had broken into a zoo in Baghdad and got bit by a tiger, after reaching into the cage.
He was visiting a zoo, and at one point the visitors can go right up to the bars in the back of an enclosure which held a lion. He asked the zookeeper how, since there's no barrier between the people and the bars, how they can keep people from reaching through the bars to where the lion is. The zookeeper looked at him incredulously and replied "There's a lion in the cage."
Apparently, such stupidity is so uncommon in Japan that he didn't understand why anyone would reach their hand into a cage with a lion in it.
I was reminded of this story when I read this article in the Register-Guard, about a drunk US soldier who had broken into a zoo in Baghdad and got bit by a tiger, after reaching into the cage.
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Date: 2003-09-22 12:46 pm (UTC)