A Japanese neurologist argues that the Shinkansen pork-bun fight comes down to genes: passengers in the same carriage are not actually smelling the same thing.
Eating a pork bun on the Shinkansen is known in Japan as 'pork-bun terrorism'. The author studies smell for a living, finds the odour unbearable, and has long been unable to grasp how anyone could fail to notice it.
The answer is in the genes. Pork fat contains androstenone, a compound people read as animal-like, and how strongly it hits depends on the olfactory receptor gene OR7D4; those who inherit the sensitive versions of both copies need only a trace.
Neither side is exaggerating. The same bun simply takes two noses on very different journeys, which is a more useful place to start than an argument about manners.
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