Vatican unveils official anime mascot - I hope she (“Luce”) starts vtubing soon
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I'm not enough of a weeb to get this reference.
I tried looking it up but all I got was Swimmer's Ear articles.
The Japanese schoolgirl uniform thing does make sense though.
I honestly didn't think about the bare legs thing until I came across an upskirt shot showing her knickers on a Luce caricature on my X feed on Day 1.
Its not even a weeb thing. Its a literal real Japanese thing that just happens in anime because anime is from Japan.
Due to that genetic difference, getting their ears wet is a really really bad thing (its why that cliche of "got wet for two seconds, caught a cold" exists). But if they have to do more than walk home in the rain, an umbrella doesn't cut it and so raincoats are also common.
Though its usually the clear ones not the bright yellow, but that would be less iconic.
God's little joke.
On the flip side, the island full of shutins and neets are immune to having body odor.
Closes door, opens window.
It's like sailors and Newfies not being able to swim.
My mind is still blown. I've never heard of any of this before.
So the Japanese have a genetic immunodeficiency that they get sick when they get wet?
Is it only specific to their ears? Or just getting wet & cold in general?
They have a gene difference (ABCC11) that determines if a human has wet or dry earwax and if they have underarm odor. One of the downsides of the dry wax is that if it gets wet then it can inflame very badly (swelling their ears shut) and allowing them to catch colds from cold, wetness easier (the reason for that isn't as known, might be unrelated).
Its why "ear cleaning" is a common thing in Japanese media too, because they genuinely need to clear out that powdery nonsense in a way that us sticky, wet ears don't.
Wet wax is the dominant gene, so only in the insulated East Asian countries can the dry wax be common.
Fascinating.
The predilection to otitis externa (swimmer's ear) makes sense with the dry wax gene/rainwater.
I'm more skeptical about the connections to the common cold.
It's considered a myth in the West that cold exposure increases the risk of acquiring the common cold. As I understand it, seasonal variations in upper respiratory rates are more associated with huddling indoors in the extreme cold/heat, more reliance on central air systems with weather extremes, drier air from such seasons and systems dessicating nasal mucosa and leading to increased viral infection risk, etc.
AFAIK, outer otitis externa ear infections aren't a major risk factor for other upper respiratory tract infections.