 |
|
 |
| |
Japan Trivia
 Another in the Kodansha Bilingual books series.
雑学 [ざつがく] ニッポン (zatusgaku nippon).
Quite similar to "The Misunderstood Japanese" though tackling less serious topics, this book presents more frivolous and historic questions surrounding Japan such "Why is sumo the national sport of Japan ?", "Why is the country called 'Japan' in English?" and "Why do Japanese like taking baths so much ?".
Both questions & answers are presented in English and Japanese; as with the previous book I read in this series, there are some good answers and it gives you good practice for reading and vocabulary.
Sometimes the answers give genuinely, accurate factual answers though like the other books in this series the answers can be a little 曖昧（vague - あいまい) or the "standard" answer without much in depth thought.
For instance "Why is Japanese cold medicine so ineffective?" give the answer that dosages are much lower compared to the west for safety reasons and when visiting the Dr in Japan you are given a varying array of drugs that target your individual symptoms for you. In the west you would be given a "catch all" single drug for generalised symptoms.
This is particulalrly true if you look at what your given in terms of medecine in the west, the drug your takign for a flu may be used for a variety of other conditions, not exactly 100% safe.Though I personally find it unsafe taking a "cocktail" of different medecines at the same time !
Perhaps the main reason is safety; but more often than not, A Dr's practice will be located near a Pharmacy with an exclusive "deal" between the too. For insurance purposes a Dr, the Pharmacy and the drug manufacturing company will recieve better profit and turnover if a variety of smaller amounts of drugs are distributed, rather than one single drug.
Well, that's my conspiratorial and economic take on it, tho certainly when in Japan a stash of western flu remedies can be indispensable, you'll soon win friends giving a co worker a Ibuprofen from the West when he or she is suffering from a terrible cold !
ワー先飲んだ薬は超きく！ - "Wow that medicine REALLY WORKED !"
=)
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
Posted by sasqwach
at July 10, 2008 4:58 PM | Permalink
|
|
|
