Photo/Illutration A teapot designed for left-handed people, left, and one for right-handers (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Can openers, pocketknives, cameras and automatic ticket gates all share one thing in common.

They are difficult for left-handed people to use because they were basically developed with right-handers in mind.

Naoya Oji founded “Nihon Hidarikiki Kyokai” (Left Handers Association of Japan) four years ago to promote mutual understanding between left- and right-handers.

“Except for guitars, golf clubs and some other items, the vast majority of consumer goods are designed only for right-handers, and that’s the reality,” said Oji, 55, of Otsu.

When he started school, Oji, a leftie, was forced to practice writing with his right hand after classes.

The questions that arose in his young mind motivated him to research the history of left-handedness, discover what other people thought and share his views online as well as through books.

When he sought the opinion of an expert on social etiquette, he was reassured that left-handed people were perfectly fine as they were, which gave him confidence.

I visited Kikuya, an office supplies store in Sagamihara. It is stocked with 100 or so items designed for left-handers, including an electronic calculator and a “suribachi” grinding mortar with pestle.

Being right-handed, I was quite clumsy with a teapot or hand-held fan for left-handed people. When it came to a pair of leftie scissors, I couldn’t even cut out a triangle.

“This is how left-handers are struggling, day in and day out,” noted Hiroo Urakami, 46, the president of Kikuya.

From what I learned from Urakami and Oji, there are three main issues that left-handed people feel they need to raise.

The first concerns the inconveniences they encounter in their daily life; second, their ideas different from those who are right-handers; and third, their sense of feeling out of place in society where being right-handed is the norm.

Their desire to be understood lies at the root of these issues.

In many industrialized countries, political polarization into distinct right and left viewpoints is advancing. A spirit of moderation and tolerance for different opinions would be necessary to heal the divide.

Aug. 13 is International Left Handers Day, although this occasion is said to be still unfamiliar even to lefties in Japan and elsewhere.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 13

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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