Headlines

This is the front-page headline of the Mainichi Daily News today:

Piercing studio operator busted for working without medical license

It's accompanied by a photo of the piercing studio operator being led away by police. He's covering his face with his jacke the way hardened criminals do before a big trial. Ok, two things strik me as very Japanese in all this: #1) What's with the obsession with cleanliness? Ok, dirty piercing needles are gross. But front page news? Being led away by police? Give me a break...and #2) You need a MEDICAL LICENSE to pierce ears here? Don't they just do that with one of those guns at the mall in the U.S.? I seem to remember sitting in a Claire's boutique with my mom at North Star Mall and some teenager who probably makes minimum wage piercing my ears. Tetnus didn't set in.