If you happen to see the three letters "FKK" in Germany, you'd better be careful. This is an abbreviation of Freie Koerper Kultur, (free body culture), or public displays of nudity in natural settings such as beaches, lakes or gardens. A good example of this can be witnessed by visiting the English garden in Munich, where many nudists enjoy the sunshine during summer. It's not too surprising how some people may love this peculiar culture, although only certain locations cater to such nudists. Still, while the Japanese do have the custom of konyoku, or mixed-sex bathing in hot springs, most Japanese will still be shocked if they discovered that most saunas and spas in Germany are also mixed sex.

To be honest, for the longest time I believed this was some kind of joke and never thought that most Germans were actually accustomed to nudism. On the contrary, Germans say one can get used to this quite quickly, and if one were to feel indecent in exposing oneself to the other sex, that feeling would be where the real immorality would lie. But how embarrassing would it be if you? went to the sauna after a swim in the pool and bumped into colleagues of the opposite sex

Privacy is a term that has different meanings in Japan and Germany. When I returned to Japan for a while, I felt confused when I was often asked personal questions that never seem to have come up during conversations I had in Germany. Asking your age is a typical one. I was somewhat shocked when someone asked me that question, and it made me realize how long it has been since I left Japan, where such personal questions like one's age are not considered private questions.

In Germany, I was never asked about my age or marital status, unless I knew the person I was talking to very well. Such personal information remains in the realm of the private, although people don't seem to mind visiting the sauna with the opposite sex. The Japanese are quite tolerant of such private conversations, or maybe such topics were never considered private matters in the first place.

Another example of the difference in the conception of privacy: Germans are never reluctant to start discussions with total strangers, maybe that is the reason they can be so open with their opinions. I've seen on many occasions separate groups of people suddenly starting discussions in public. One day, after watching a movie in a theater, my friend commented on something and asked my opinion on it. Before I could answer, a couple of people next to me began expressing their opinion, and continued discussion for five minutes without me. I couldn't think what to say as I wondered who the strangers were my friend was talking to. In Japan, such random discussions with strangers would almost never occur.

Blaming this phenomena on cultural difference does not lead to an adequate explanation of the gap between German and Japanese concepts of privacy. How can someone explain how one group of people can go to a mixed-sex sauna and begin random conversations with strangers, while another group doesn't feel that they are intruding in the least when asking someone's age and marital status.

FKK is not only a symbol of nudism, but also a symbol of the DDR, or former East Germany, because the nudist culture was especially encouraged during the communist-era. Therefore, FKK is often used in jokes about Ossies (East Germans). But I still wonder — being Japanese — what the difference is between mixed saunas, which have penetrated across Germany, and nudists who practice FKK. With these questions in mind, I recently turned down an offer from my friends to go to a sauna.

It seems like I have been in this country long enough to be annoyed by insensitive personal questions of the type often asked in Japan, but not long enough to expose myself at mixed saunas.