Japanese culture travelogue

I've heard that a common question asked on Tokyo streets is "Excuse me, can you tell me the time please?" but in Japanese of course.

Why is this a popular question? Doesn't Tokyo have big time pieces all over the place? Clocks, digital displays, even sundials? Well yes, but the reason that someone asks someone the time ISN'T because they want to know the time!

Lots of Japanese men ask Japanese women the time because

Follow up:

this is a great way of being able to speak to an attractive woman. An attractive Japanese girl will be asked the time at least 100 times a day. This can probably be very flattering or extremely annoying, depending on the type of guy asking her.

And, no, rich, handsome single Japanese men are not in the habit of asking people the time.

But it's not just Japanese women that get the attention. Caucasian women are also targetted. There's really no point in me typing the romaji translation for the question as you'll learn it pretty quickly when you get there!

And if you're a guy in Japan and a woman asks you the time? Wow, really? Go get a modelling job now!