From our other sites
The story
TV personality Hikorohii sparked a reaction on her radio show by commenting on eating strong-smelling food like curry or meat buns on the Shinkansen, saying “as long as the rule is that you’re allowed to eat it, there’s not much you can do about it, to some extent.” The remark was reported and drew a wave of responses on 5ch’s Geinou/Sports Breaking News+ board. It started with a listener’s message describing how they bought an Auberge curry at Tokyo Station, ate it on the train, and got hit with intense stares from people nearby. The thread split between those who argued that if it’s allowed by the rules there’s no problem — pointing to the tradition of ekiben (station bento) — and those who argued that rules and manners are separate things, with consideration for others still mattering. The debate spread into comparisons with smoking rules, and even non-food smells like perfume, fabric softener, and body odor.
On the 1st, the TOKYO FM program “Shaberuzu ‘Tokyo FM Rohii’” aired, hosted by comedian Hikorohii.
In the listener-mail segment, they read out a message from a listener: “I bought an Auberge curry at Tokyo Station and was eating it on the Shinkansen when I got some intense stares from people around me — I’d like to hear Hikorohii’s take on eating strong-smelling food on the Shinkansen.”
Hikorohii said that among the bento boxes prepared for her backstage, the Auberge curry is her particular favorite. She recalled once gushing so much about how much she loved it that she ended up being given Auberge curry for breakfast, lunch, and dinner — and said that eating it on the Shinkansen, “I think there’s not much you can do about it.”
Source: sirabee.com / Original article here
What people said
No way.
If ekiben (station bento) are allowed, why not curry too? Is that not okay?
You're gonna puke right there on the spot?
which would you rather deal with?
I can put up with food smells more.
Even B.O. is manageable if you just convince yourself it's cumin.
Food smell goes away once you're done eating.
Though it gets reissued every time you burp.
By that logic you could never eat out at all.
That's a stretch, honestly — everyone there is eating roughly the same kind of stuff lol
Sandwiches, onigiri, I guess
maybe something like Calorie Mate (a bland meal-replacement bar)
though it's pretty flavorless.
Cold food is probably relatively odorless.
Onigiri, sweet bread, that kind of thing?
Though chocolate's actually pretty smelly too.
At a restaurant the same food smells totally normal — is it because it's gone cold?
When I'm the one eating it I don't notice at all,
but someone else's bento has this weird raw-garbage vibe to it.
I can't really relate to being that bothered by it.
Wait, patches I will complain about, that's no joke.
They smell way worse than food, by a long shot.
Sitting next to someone reeking of menthol patches for hours is torture.
There's nothing wrong with eating them on board.
If it were something stolen from someone else, that'd be a huge problem.
It's the same as a smoking-permitted area.
You can smoke, or you can not smoke.
But there are idiots out there yelling 'don't smoke!' regardless.
It's not really about the smell of meat buns or curry.
I mean, that's supposed to be a smell that makes you hungry.
The real problem is the bitterness in the hearts of the people complaining — and that can't be fixed. There's no way to save an unhappy person; they have to pull themselves up on their own.
They'll stay miserable their whole life. It's those pitiful people who are doing the complaining.
So true.
It's just displaced stress relief instead of facing their real problems.
Like picking a fight because you got dumped, or being irritable because you're broke — that level of thing.
but there are idiots out there who somehow think their own 'manners' (really just personal rules in disguise) should automatically take priority over the operator's official rules.
Makes you wonder what their life at work or school even looks like.
Some weekly magazine's made-up 'train rules'
have nothing to do with anyone else.
That's exactly what a personal rule is.
some perfectly average-looking salaryman shouted 'Ugh, that reeks!' at the top of his voice — honestly scarier than the smell itself.
Someone needs to tell that shouting salaryman, 'Dude, it's probably your own feet that stink.'
manners dictate finishing within 10 minutes of sitting down and sealing up the trash completely so no smell escapes.
Before that, old man —
do something about your body odor…
Who even are you?
You're probably the one people call gross all the time.
No, seriously, you stink, so do something about it.
You're the gross one here — at least take a shower and brush your teeth in the morning.
Once you're on the Shinkansen, sanitize that filthy body and brush your teeth every 30 minutes.
Old man, seriously, do at least that much. It's basic manners — be aware that you stink.
If we're going there, a bald head spilling out over the seat isn't exactly pleasant to look at either.
Everyone's putting up with something.
Background and Key Points of This Debate
Eating and drinking isn’t restricted on the Shinkansen, and JR officially permits the sale of ekiben (station bento) — meaning that eating curry or meat buns is, by the rules, not a problem at all, and Hikorohii’s “there’s not much you can do about it” answer is premised on exactly that. Where the thread split was over where to draw the line between rules and manners: one camp held that “if it’s allowed, the people complaining are the ones in the wrong,” while the other held that “even within the rules, consideration for the people around you is a separate issue” — the two sides clashed throughout, even bringing up comparisons to smoking rules. Another axis was how much sensitivity to smell varies from person to person, with plenty of comparisons made to non-food smells like perfume, fabric softener, body odor, and medicated patches. Since there’s no objective standard for “where complaining becomes justified,” this is the kind of topic where the same argument is likely to keep repeating.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Breaking News+) thread “Hikorohii on the issue of eating strong-smelling food like curry or meat buns on the Shinkansen: “As long as the rule says you’re allowed to eat it, there’s not much you can do about it, right?”“
Leave a Reply