The Japanese people, however, have never been quick to accept outside influence wholesale without adapting it to their specific mindset. It was thus inevitable that the original concept of “let’s look at that” (henceforth referred to as mimashou, from the Japanese) would be quickly molded to fit Japonic ideas of beauty, order and mindful contemplation.

The most important manifestation of mimashou may well be the popular springtime activity of hanami, generally translated as “flower viewing” but more accurately “there are some flowers and I have to go look at them.” A grove of sakura (cherry trees, generally of Prunus serrulata) in full bloom is an impressive sight regardless of one’s cultural milieu, but the Japanese spend significant portions of time planning, mentally preparing and buying oversized blue tarps for the hanami season. Families, friends and lovers gather to look at the sakura during their peak, usually in areas where they have been deliberately planted in large numbers to facilitate looking at.

Concepts like hanami and mimashou are indeed distant relatives of the Chinese and Southeast Asian tendencies to look at stuff, however mere motorbike crashes are rarely enough to capture the Japanese imagination as subjects must be well suited to deep contemplation and having picnics held nearby. This can be a boon for hapless immigrants, as faux pas such as boarding women-only train cars while male and dominoing dozens of bicycles are usually met with sympathetic coos and helping hands instead of distant stares. Would these events last long enough and occur in spaces conducive to laying out tarps and drinking beer the reactions may vary, but thankfully this is not the case in all but the most egregious of examples.