Lessons from Japan

I just realized yesterday that Judy has not been blogging during our Japan trip. She has been typing like crazy but she never posted the info. I started to post to the blog yesterday (2 days ago? Today? Crossing the International Date Line really messes with your head!) but I was using Brian's laptop and it crashed. I am sure that Judy will be full of day-to-day info so, as is my wont, I will add some color commentary.

I would bet that this will not be the only post that I make on this subject because the scope is so wide, but I wanted to get my thoughts down while they are fresh.

We learned a lot while we were in Japan. Certainly we learned a great deal about Japan, but we learned more about the United States. There is a great deal to be admired in Japanes society, and two weeks there made us realize some major shortcomings here at home.

First of all is the level of politeness. You have to experience it to believe it. Whether is is someone holding an elevator for you, giving you directions in English that is as bad as your Japanese, or smiling when serving you the politeness is ingrained in their society. As is the excellent service they provide. Taxi drivers wear suits and white gloves and are genuinely pleased to help you with your luggage. Hotel staff sincerely welcomes you when you come into the lobby. The entire staff of a restaurant - wait staff, cashier, cooks, busboys - gives sincere thanks when you leave. Trains and buses are swept and cleaned after every trip. Train stations are clean - no litter, no homeless, no urine smells. There is virtually no petty crime. People are proud of their job whether it be sophisticated or menial. Oh, yes. There is no tipping.

I had long talks with Brian about this. I told him that we could do well to implement some of these practices at home. He told me - in some detail - why it wouldn't work. He feels that the Japanese have a "social contract" that we in the US don't - and can't - have.

The basic contract is that there is a common good and it is the duty of everyone to contribute to that common good. We will keep the subway cars clean if you don't slash the seats and paint graffiti on them. We will be polite in virtually every instance because we know you will be polite as well. We will cheerfully perform our job to the best of our ability because when everyone does that we have a neat, efficient, and pleasant society.

There is more - much more, but I will continue it at another time. We just got off a 13 hour plane ride plus another 2 hours from JFK home. We picked up Ziggy at the spa and are ready to pass out. It's good to be home again even if we are moving in 6 days!