Something that made me giggle today, and something that made me frustrated.
Randomly, the vending machine across the street from my apartment has sprouted Ultraman Cider. Okay, technically it's "ULTRA CIDER" in katakana.
See? This one is Ultraman Moebius, 100 yen per can (most canned soft drinks are 120 or 130 yen, 150 yen if they have a cap instead of a pop top).
It comes in six different cans (Ultraman, Zofi, Ultraseven, Ultraman Jack, Ultraman Tiga, and my Ultraman Moebius up there).
I'm kind of afraid to open it and actually drink it. (But I'll be putting 100 yen coins into that machine until Tiga comes out.)
On the frustrated front, I was watching the Japanese drama God Hand Teru. In the series finale, it has as a major motivational point for one of its shadiest characters the fact that American EMTs will refuse to take a patient to an ER or a clinic if said patient does not immediately produce the funds to pay for at least the ambulance ride.
What the FUCK, Japan.
To the best of my knowledge, if 911 is called and an ambulance is requested, not only does the ambulance show up but it also must take the patient to a hospital. Furthermore, an ER cannot refuse treatment in the United States - billing is settled later, when the patient is no longer in danger of dying.
Contrast this to Japan, where hospitals can refuse treatment for any reason whatsoever and often do, if the patient appears to have a low chance for survival; they try to minimize the number of people who die in their care by refusing to admit the ones that they don't think will make it. I've heard horror stories such as the man in Osaka who was refused admission to something like 12 different hospitals and eventually died in the amubulance.
Do I really have to say anything else?
See? This one is Ultraman Moebius, 100 yen per can (most canned soft drinks are 120 or 130 yen, 150 yen if they have a cap instead of a pop top).
It comes in six different cans (Ultraman, Zofi, Ultraseven, Ultraman Jack, Ultraman Tiga, and my Ultraman Moebius up there).
I'm kind of afraid to open it and actually drink it. (But I'll be putting 100 yen coins into that machine until Tiga comes out.)
On the frustrated front, I was watching the Japanese drama God Hand Teru. In the series finale, it has as a major motivational point for one of its shadiest characters the fact that American EMTs will refuse to take a patient to an ER or a clinic if said patient does not immediately produce the funds to pay for at least the ambulance ride.
What the FUCK, Japan.
To the best of my knowledge, if 911 is called and an ambulance is requested, not only does the ambulance show up but it also must take the patient to a hospital. Furthermore, an ER cannot refuse treatment in the United States - billing is settled later, when the patient is no longer in danger of dying.
Contrast this to Japan, where hospitals can refuse treatment for any reason whatsoever and often do, if the patient appears to have a low chance for survival; they try to minimize the number of people who die in their care by refusing to admit the ones that they don't think will make it. I've heard horror stories such as the man in Osaka who was refused admission to something like 12 different hospitals and eventually died in the amubulance.
Do I really have to say anything else?