Polite, considerate and respectful

Thursday, 25 Oct 2007 | Life in Asia

One of the things anybody will tell you about the Japanese is that they are a very polite, considerate and respectful people. If or not these people have actually met Japanese generally does not make a difference, I would have told you the same thing 2 months ago. However, I am now certified and experienced with my 5 days in Japan having reviewed this. A few examples.

In the train on the way to Kyoto as I write this, the high speed train (shinkansen) zooming across the countryside at over 200km per hour. Every 30 minutes or so a lady with a little food and drink cart will walk by. Also, the ticket guy has passed several times. When he does, before he exits the cabin, he turns around and bows to all the passengers and is then on his way.

The weirdest form of this bowing thing was something I noticed in a subway station the other day. The trackside (after the turnstiles) was separated from the unpaid section of the subway station only by a low stone wall. A man and woman were talking about something before saying goodbye. When they finally did say goodbye, they bowed to each other. But the woman continued making bows to him while he was walking away. And even stranger so, continued making bows while he had disappeared out of sight and walked around a corner. She did that for another 10 seconds before walking away.

An example of consideration for your fellow (wo)man, is the covering of ones mouth. In Bangkok tuktuk drivers and others wear those to protect themselves from the air pollution. Chinese tend to wear them to protect themselves from disease such as SARS and what not. In Japan, people use those mouth covers to protect others from their germs. If you have a cold or whatever, put on a mask to make sure you dont contaminate others.

All these kind of protocols are nothing new to me. In Thailand too, there is a lot of protocol in the way people address and deal with eachother. I’m sure the west has similar protocols that I simply not as much aware of as I’ve grown up. And the above and other examples that could be given, are all a matter of following rules. And as I’ve said before, following rules is something the Japanese do very well!