A SIP OF MATCHA thestar.com.my/lifestyle
By SARAH MORI
The honesty and integrity of the Japanese make them worthy role models.
A JAPANESE friend told me that her American acquaintance was amazed by the discipline of the Japanese while watching the news on the recent tsunami catastrophe on CNN. Railway systems were suddenly disrupted on March 11 and the roads were choked with vehicles and people.
“The people in Japan are so rule-orientated. Despite the fact that no vehicle could move, pedestrians duly stopped when the traffic signal at the crosswalk turned red. I would have just walked across,” she told my friend, over the phone.
Jishuku (voluntary self-restraint) is the keyword here. In deference to the tragedies, cherry blossom viewing parties this spring have been scaled down. Several festivals and night illuminations of cherry trees were scrapped at major viewing sites in a bid to conserve electricity.
Nevertheless, excessive jishuku may hurt Japan’s economy.
A signboard of a character bowing apologetically at a construction site.
When queuing up at some stores, customers have to follow the arrow marks on the floor to the respective checkout counters. At a certain university hospital, mats with shoe marks are placed for people to wait in line when paying their medical bill.
A middle-aged woman once got riled up when the cashier declined to attend to her first. I was facing the entrance at the checkout counter, whereas the woman was facing me. She argued that she came before me as I was about to be attended to.
Although the cashier relented after I offered to let the woman pay first, she chided her for lining up in the wrong direction.
In the aftermath of the triple disasters, people around the world marvelled at the absence of mass looting. Thousands of personal possessions retrieved from the disaster areas are waiting to be claimed at municipal buildings.
To provide clues or help in the identification of missing or dead persons, some individuals who handed in the items attached notes indicating where they were found. Even if the owners were dead, their belongings would be of great sentimental value to surviving family members.
Rescue workers and residents have turned in tens of millions of yen in cash recovered from the ravaged areas of the Tohoku region to the police. Since the money could not be traced to the owners due to missing identification, the authorities are using it to help in the reconstruction of devastated areas.
One plausible reason for the absence of mass looting could be integrity. Generally, the Japanese find it unethical to take things that do not belong to them.
Politeness is another typical trait. Whenever customers enter a store, the staff greet them with irasshaimase (welcome). Near the till is a tray for customers to place their cash. The cashier counts the change twice in front of the customer, who is given a bow and a “thank you” when they leave.
Waiting their turn: Passengers queuing at a bus stop.
Signboards near construction sites also reflect the courtesy of the Japanese.
Take, for example, the ongoing renovations of two playgrounds in my neighbourhood. A signboard on the hoarding depicts a character bowing next to a written apology. Another one illustrates an even more courteous character – holding his helmet at his side and bowing.
During the maintenance of the highway adjacent to my apartment block, an anime-like female character with an apologetic bow is limned on a signboard. The guard on duty greeted me and bowed as I walked past. I returned the greeting.
Yet, there is one habit which I find peculiar among most Japanese, regardless of gender. A long time ago, a worker called on me to apologise for the inconvenience caused by some road repairs. As he was explaining, my eyes were attentively following his middle finger pointing at the affected routes on a map on the flyer.
Don’t get me wrong. He wasn’t extending his middle finger uncouthly, for the rest of his fingers were only slightly curled in. This habit has become incognizant among many foreigners in Japan, including yours truly. But when showing direction or pointing to someone in a formal way, we extend our palm.
I’ve learnt that certain behaviours which may be accepted back home in Malaysia are indecorous here. And after a period of living in Japan, one tends to blend in with the Japanese way of life.
Sarah Mori, a Malaysian married to a Japanese, has been living in Japan since 1992.
-
No comments:
Post a Comment