Japan is one of my favorite destinations to travel to. Culturally, it’s the kind of place where, around every turn, I can’t help but stumble across things that at first glance seem so completely foreign. But as I sit with those encounters and experiences for awhile, it becomes clear that the Japanese just come at solutions to problems from a COMPLETELY different direction, or at least different from my ingrained Western outlook on the world.
For example, there’s the construction worker gracefully waving traffic past a road construction site while dressed in a well-pressed uniform (with matching hat) and white gloves, whose movements with his baton almost look like an elegant dance performance; and whose approach to his job is just as serious as if he was a brain surgeon or the manager of a nuclear power plant.
Then there are the bicycles left unlocked on sidewalks in cities by daily commuters; because OF COURSE no one will steal them, as that would cast shame on one’s family.
Certainly, like anywhere, it is not a perfect system; but arguably it is one worth investigating and immersing oneself in, to gain perspective on life and the world, from a different vantage point.
This recent article in the New York Times (read here) highlights the way a thousand-year-old Japanese rice cake business approaches the current COVID-19 pandemic:
This Japanese Shop Is 1,020 Years Old. It Knows a Bit About Surviving Crises: A mochi seller in Kyoto, and many of Japan’s other centuries-old businesses, have endured by putting tradition and stability over profit and growth.
Excerpt from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/02/business/japan-old-companies.html
"Naomi Hasegawa’s family sells toasted mochi out of a small, cedar-timbered shop next to a rambling old shrine in Kyoto. The family started the business to provide refreshments to weary travelers coming from across Japan to pray for pandemic relief — in the year 1000! .....
.... (They do) one thing and (they do) it well — a very Japanese approach to business. The company has declined many opportunities to expand. Mochi remains the only item on the menu, and if you want something to drink, you are politely offered the choice of roasted green tea."
I love that: "the CHOICE of roasted green tea". (Hmmm, let's see. What should I get to drink? I've got it narrowed down to EITHER roasted green tea, OR roasted green tea ). 😃
Japan is THE best!! 🤗🍡🏯🇯🇵
