No one says anything in Japan when you sneeze. You just sneeze, and the whole horrible event is ignored entirely. Today, in fact, I had the misfortune of sneezing. To my utter and total surprise the other ALT in the room actually said, “Bless you.” What a wonderful gift. I had been missing that gift all week and I didn’t even know it. All my other sneezes this week went by un-blessed by my co-workers. It’s just not one of those things you do in Japan. You could really startle a person if you said something right after they had a terrible sneezing fit! Best to just pretend it never happened. Best just to pretend all bodily functions never happened. I thought it was funny when I first came to Japan, but now I’ve gotten completely used to my sneezes being ignored. How can that be? What a terrible thing has taken place. Yeah, I know the practice of saying “bless you” (or “Gesundheit”) after someone sneezes is a cultural carry-over from the naïve religious misconceptions of the Middle Ages, when people thought you could lose your soul with a sneeze…but dang it, I like my sneezes to be recognized, thank you very much. And I like being blessed from time to time. So for Pete’s sake, remember to say something when poor fellow has a small sinus explosion! It’s the only polite thing to do.
