I had a great time working and visiting family, but oh how I missed Japan! Here are 5 Things You Miss About Japan When You Leave the Country.
1. Stellar CUSTOMER SERVICE on every level. The Japanese believe in customer service to the extreme. You will be hard pressed to find a rude or lazy employee at any company, no matter what job they are doing. The Japanese even live by the phrase "okyakusama wa kamisama desu" which literally means, "the customer is god."
2. CLEANLINESS of facilities, parks, restaurants, etc. The best story to illustrate this is to tell you about the time when my sister and her husband visited Tokyo as presenters for a conference. Well, they decided to visit Tokyo Disney and they were amazed at the cleanliness of such a massive theme park. They were amazed to the point where they, a coupe in their 40's, began to drop paper on the ground on purpose just to see how long it would take someone to come and clean it up. Every time they dropped a piece of paper it took less than 5 minutes for a grounds keeper to show up and bring the park back up to 100% perfection.
3. SAFETY. Lower crime rate, definitely not talking about driving. Kids in elementary school walking to school on their own, doors left wide open all day, it's like living in a country town in the USA. One of the best things about Japan is that only the police, military and mafia have firearms. The regular citizens may have lethal martial arts hands, but no firearms. Robberies and homicide are also very low. With many of these being related to alcohol abuse. Again for the general public who do not frequent seedy areas, this is off low concern and has very low rates.
4. POLITENESS. Japanese and especially Okinawans are so polite. Even if they are on of the ones that hate foreigners they still treat you with respect. The Japanese are legendary for their politeness even when they really hate you. It is just part of their culture to maintain peace and calm in public, unless otherwise provoked beyond their level of control. That can happy to anyone though. For the most part, if you are nice to them, then they are nice to you. They will give you the shirt of their back and 100% of their effort, and you may never know that they really didn't care that much for you.
5. NERD TECH. Well, some of the phones are universal across the globe, but Japan tech in most areas is still pretty far ahead in functionality, space saving and of course cuuuuuuuteness! I am always amazed at the technology stream in Japan, and they truly have an edge for innovation in every market possible. They have a knack for taking things apart and finding ways to make it more effective, efficient and CUTE.
I love the opportunity to visit so many places around the world, but I truly love Japan. Since a child I have always wanted to live here, and my dream came true in 2004. I have lived and grown here ever since.
Thank you for reading.
Benjamin Moriniere "Sensei"
@CapoeiraOkinawa
