Many Japanese photo trends have been cool. Really cool! They’ve gone viral and spread beyond the country’s borders for good reason. This one, though, is anything but cool. It’s stupid.
In the past month or so, select members of the country’s youth have been photographing themselves after they’ve climbed into things, usually electrical appliances.
It all started back in July, when a convenience store employee was photographed in an ice cream freezer. (Did I say this wasn’t cool? I didn’t mean it literally!)
That employee was subsequently fired, the convenience store chain apologized, and that particular shop was shuttered temporarily.
As previously posted, more idiots followed! After photos like this are uploaded, people online in Japan get angry because they feel like these employees are being disrespectful, the store or restaurant then apologizes, people are either punished or fired, and the established is closed temporarily so it can be cleaned and disinfected.
Online, these kinds of photos are leading to people saying that today’s youth have poor morals or lack respect — you know, the usual things older people say about youngsters.
Yet, even with punishment being meted out and even with people online criticising photos like these, you still see part-time employees crawling into appliances.
There are even customers doing the same!
The photo below surfaced on Monday. The supermarket apparently replaced all the ice cream in this freezer, which was also cleaned. This individual was a student at a cooking vocational school. According to Otaku.com, he has since been expelled.
Thankfully, not all Japanese youth are like this. On August 17, a photo of two young men who had cleaned bags of garbage off their local beach went viral, getting over 58,000 retweets.
In the original tweet, the young men asked people visiting the beach to clean up after themselves and throw away their trash. “Please mind your manners,” the tweet read, adding that the two young men wouldn’t forgive people for trashing up their hometown beach. More of this, please! Less sticking your face in freezers!
これはアウト?セーフ?家電量販店で洗濯機に入る若者 [2ch]
Photos: GetNews, HotNews, futo_1204、GetNews, 2ch, Yukawanet, @7725Uzak、Hayabusa
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Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.
Comments
10 responses to “Japan’s Stupidest Photo Trend: Climbing Into Things”
Food health and safety must not exist in japan
This has nothing to do with ‘food health and safety’. One shitty employee climbing in a fridge doesn’t mean there’s no ‘food health and safety’.
At least no one has put their penis in a bread roll there.
there is a lot of food health a safety issues going on here, if a health and safety inspector saw such pictures in an Australian restaurant, the restaurant would be in deep shit. I certainly wouldn’t eat at a place that had employees climbing all over cooking areas bare foot
What makes you think people aren’t all like “that’s gross, don’t climb in the food”? Seriously, are you judging an entire country’s hygiene by pictures some kids took of themselves climbing amongst food?
Actually, I think I’d rather have something like this in Australia as opposed to sepia shots of coffee.
Evidence of all of these issues, please. Where in Japan is there some sort of epidemic level of unsanitary food prep?
I think you are telling porky-pies out your bum.
definitely not. they have places where monkeys serve your food. would you rather be healthy and safe? or have a monkey serve you dinner? yeah. thought so.
Monkeys, please.
Eh – it’s no stupider than ‘planking’.
Or ‘Tebowing’ or ‘Dufnering’ for that matter
as stupid as it looks, guaranteed that if this took off here in Australia someone would be killed within a week by doing it…..