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| courtesy of Andruu's that psykoo babbler of Flickr |
One of the stranger aspects of Japanese culture that I came across was the act of gargling. I mean, over here you see some people doing it at home or on a sitcom as a gag (no pun intended) device. But it's not something that I would say is all that common.
However, in Japan, it's virtually a must-do in the annals of good hygiene and preventative medicine. Heck, even companies have gargling stations like the one to the left of me so that the working minions can clear out their throat of any sort of harmful bacteria; the water in those fountains are treated with some sort of iodine solution, so it actually can't be drunk. And of course, a healthy company is usually a profitable one.
I took a look at Wikipedia, and apparently the article there says gargling is a good procedure to follow, although I have read dissenting opinions. In the past couple of days, I believe I've come down with a bug of some sort, so of course, Mom has exhorted me to hit the warm salt water and rinse the ol' larynx out.
