Last week I spent some time in the busy epicenter of the land of the rising sun: Tokyo. First of all, its an 11-hour flight from Amsterdam, which makes you kind weary. like a letter which has been photocopied over and over and over again. I exit the plane and immediately, the stark efficiency of Japan stuck me hard! no long lines, no trash... I was going through customs as smoothly as a snake in a bucket of Jello!
Now, Japan doesn't like to mix. they stick with their own things. their own food, their own humor, their own rites and idiosyncracies. Grown women dressed as barbidolls, men drinking and kissing eachother in bars (non-gay men! :P )Japan is a sight to behold.
But what struck me the most BY FAR, is how extremely friendly the japanese are! For instance, at the subway station, people actually missed their connections, just to show the way to a lost european. Some actially walked me half a mile to the correct platform. Every greet is accompanied by a small bow. Arigato! And get this... because the japanese think it is simply rude to directly take money from someone (even when you buy something in a store) they have a little tray in which you can put your money. After aother arigato, they will take the money from the tray and replace it with your change. its incredible. people who have a cold wear little cloth masks so they don't infect others. no crime... no graffiti.... no trash... I was walking at night in small Tokyo alleyways, and not once did I feel unsafe!
Tokyo is by far the busiest city I have ever been to. and that's saying something. I've been pretty far and wide across the globe. from Kuala Lumpur to Los Angeles. you think your city is busy? go to tokyo! Tokyo makes New York City look like a rural village! And yet, dispite the 37 million people that live so very very close to eachother, people just seem to get along fine! I don't know about you, but i think thats amazing!
The reason for this is nested in the mentality of the japanese people. Here in the west, we only know guilt. If you did something bad, its your fault and you are guilty. But guilt is something outside of you. you're never guilty until caught, right? Other people bestow guilt on you. And guilt is simply transferrable. oh no I'm not responsible..! it's his fault!
The Japanese have no guilt, they have shame. When a japanese person does something bad, he is not found guilty.. he is ashamed! and shame is personal. it is something within yourself. it is undenyable and non-transferrable. and that is a major difference in morality between the european/american public and the japanese!
Having spent nearly a week in the Tokyo madness, i can only say that we as westeners have a lot to learn from our japanese friends! except for the food... that all looks like different collored snot to me! haha.. but then, i am a straightly meat-n-potatoes kind of guy! that's my guilt.. maybe even my shame!
Jeroen Breukels
