Japan may be a little too trusting on security issues. (I use "security" in the IT sense here: keeping the bad guys from doing things they shouldn't do.) At my local 7-11, when buying a beer, I was caught off guard when the typical mumbling cashier pointed to the LCD screen facing me and mumbled something I don't usually hear in the everyday convenience store cashier transaction. I still don't know what was said, but the idea was clearly to direct my attention to the screen.
The LCD, whose screen space is typically 80% ads / 20% running total, was replaced with a big dialog box with big red text.
After a paragraph of typical Japanese, lengthy, indirect politeness, the screen gets uncharacteristically direct. The text in red bluntly asks, "Are you at least 20 years of age?"
Putting aside the surprising issue of just asking someone if they're legal, there's an even bigger problem.
There's only one answer: "Yes."
