Cultures often look at things differently. Here is an interesting example; some of our light switches have a color to indicate on and off – indicated by red and green. Which color would you think is on and off?
My answer was green on, red off.
Answer in Japan: red on, green off.
Michael Weening: a few pictures 
we’ve got a light switch that leads up to our attic, and I can never remember which is which…
I think the RED would have been off as well, but maybe it’s because of light spectrum..like red is easier to see than the green (to show, like for the bathroom ‘don’t come in here, light is on, it’s red!’)
but…who knows. All I know is that I have to look up and check to see if the light is on or off.
True enough, but it makes a truly dark room impossible!