In developed Western countries, it is common practice to give "priority" to wheelchair users and stroller users at public facilities, commercial establishments, event venues, and other locations. In Japan, however, this has rarely been the case. While there are "wheelchair-accessible parking spaces," they are often cramped, dangerous, and unusable.
Purchasing admission tickets at the Kansai Expo is a daunting task, and even those lucky enough to purchase one often find themselves waiting in long lines for hours just to enter the venue. Even after entering, visitors sometimes have to wait four or even five hours in temperatures approaching 40°C just to enter each pavilion.
Apparently, "priority lanes" have been set up at the entrances of foreign pavilions at the Kansai Expo, but as expected of the Japanese, they are. They immediately take advantage of this, and relatives pretending to be "accompanying persons" (attendants) follow one after another (it's not just the mother pushing the stroller, but also the father, siblings, grandparents, and up to 10 other people who "accompany" the person, and it seems that the person sitting in the "stroller" is likely to be an elementary or junior high school student).
The staff at the entrance are young part-time workers, so they cannot refuse, and it would be almost impossible for them to prove that the person sitting in the "stroller" is "not an infant." Even if a junior high or high school student is sitting in the stroller, it is difficult to deny if they insist that "this is a 'baby'!".
Wheelchairs can also be used in the same way. Inside the venue The venue is packed with people, and apparently there is often no space to sit under the "large roof" (in the shade), so bringing a simple folding chair is essential. If that's the case, bring a folding wheelchair and have one family member sit in it, and the whole family can enter with confidence through the "priority lane," without having to wait for hours under an umbrella in the scorching 40-degree sun.
With more than 200,000 visitors per day, it seems that it has become difficult to even buy a quick bite to eat at a convenience store, let alone make a restaurant reservation.
There is nowhere to sit, and it is so dangerous that you cannot even drink the water (the entire venue is an artificial island built in the sea, and there are Legionella bacteria levels in the water that are 20 times the guideline limit have been detected.).
This may be due to the unusually hot summer this summer (it was the hottest summer ever recorded by the Japan Meteorological Agency), but with so many people crammed into a small space, it seems like the atmosphere is brutal and trouble and quarrels are unbearable.
It's modern myths that "Japanese people are moral and quiet," or "Japanese people are timid and reserved," or "Japanese people are kind."
It's true that (especially men) they can hardly speak except when chatting with family members (no matter where or what they are asked to say, they can only speak in a soliloquy, as if they're in their own world), and they look as if they have no muscles in their faces. They have a tame nature, being expressionless and cyborg-like, extremely obedient, uniform, and totalitarian in every way.
I imagine that many foreigners see only this one side of them and get the impression that they are "quiet," "gentle," "kind and gentle," and "moral."
However, the psychological mechanism that controls Japanese behavior is often not mental self-control, but rather the powerful unspoken pressure to conform from those around them, so when anonymity arises in an overcrowded space with a huge number of people, restraints are suddenly let loose and anything goes. The Japanese national character is more susceptible to invisible pressure to conform from the side than to being coerced by naked authority from above.
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