This picture was taken during cherry blossom viewing season at Ueno Park. It illustrates something about eating in public in Tokyo and that's that the birds are bold and opportunistic when they encounter someone snacking in public. Pigeons are the usual moochers, but there are often signs telling people not to feed them. Fortunately for this big, black crow, no such prohibition is made on them. Shortly after this picture was taken, the little boy shared his caramel corn with the crow... or dropped some of it to distract that big beak while he made a getaway.
7 comments:
NO WAY??!! Remind me to NEVER EVER eat outside in Japan (if I ever go there that is). I'd like to keep my eyes away from those beeks thank you very much ;)
I'm not super Japanese-culture savvy, but isn't it impolite to eat in public (except eating seated in a restaurant or something, of course)? When I went there, I ate and walked like crazy so I'd be a complete hypocrit, heh.
Daedal: The birds are extremely aggressive. I've got some other pictures of birds doing a similar thing, but also I had an experience in which a pigeon nearly attacked me when I was eating a donut in a courtyard which I'll be talking about later in a review post.
Kattay: You are right in general about eating in public, but exceptions are made for certain areas and situations. This was in an area near a food court (selling crepes, ice cream and snacks) with no seating. People in that case have to eat while walking, and it's also okay since it's a park during cherry blossom viewing season.
People do still eat and walk around, but it's generally frowned upon. Personally, I don't do that because I can't enjoy the food that way, but I don't abstain because I want to be mannerly. ;-)
Thanks to both of you for commenting!
I've noticed the crows are particularly bold, since I've been here. No stealing yet.
i remember my mother telling me once that when she lived in san francisco, she and my father ordered a pizza and went to eat it outside. but the seagulls there are so bold that one literally flew down and carried their pizza off! they were only just married and were pretty poor at the time, so they were really pissed because they couldn't afford to buy a replacement pizza.
the seagulls in san francisco are pretty aggro, too... my mother and father, when they were first married, were living out there and were pretty poor. they bought a pizza as a rare eating-out treat, and went up to the wharf to eat. a seagull literally flew down and snatched it away! they were pretty pissed, especially since they couldn't afford to buy a replacement...
I'm sure the experience was bad, but it makes for a great story!
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