craveVSworld: 日本: April Fools in a Bottle

"We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance."

- Japanese Proverb

Japan has adopted several foreign holidays into its calendar. Luckily, April Fools Day is one of them. While Google Japan has opted out this year out of respect to the victims of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami, I feel this celebration of childish antics couldn't come at a better time.

March is typically filled with 'end of the year' parties, and with the recent tragedy, most of them have been cancelled. Even commercials on Japanese TV were pulled in favor of lighthearted animated public service announcements. With life slowly returning to normal, it's time for everyone to smile out loud.

But what to do? There's a great cultural and language barrier between my co-workers and I. I was banking on one advantage...all humans (the cool ones) love to laugh at the absurd.

I decided to dust off one of my previous 100yen shop purchases. I knew one day a male urine bottle would come in handy, and April 1st was a fitting time to "relieve myself." In the photo copy room I covertly filled the bottle with water, then added generous drops of yellow food coloring. Shook that sucker and presto... FAKE PEE!

Then I snuck the bottle under my jacket and strategically placed it in this the staff room refrigerator. My hope was that teachers would be appalled to see a bottle of urine placed in the community fridge. The icing on the cake was how all teachers have a mandatory health check up next week, making the placement of this 'urine' unbelievably believable.

In an office with 30 plus teachers and administrators, I knew someone would quickly find the bottle. Boy, was I wrong. I must have placed the bottle in there too late. Most teachers already ate their lunch, or were opting to warm up with tea or coffee. Regardless, I left it in there, and come Monday I may have some explaining to do. I can't wait to, in plain view of the entire office, drink from it!