Japan is a polite society. They are bowing all the time. It is a part of their culture.
On the return flight you see it. The people at the desk bow to you as you come and as you go. The gate attendant would stop and bow to the entire room before he preceded to open the door to the ramp. When they began to give the safety lecture before take off the attendants would bow several times to the passengers.
The ultimate was after we boarded the airplane and it started backing away from the gate. If you looked out the window at the right time you could see the entire ground crew lined up. They would bow to the plane and then wave as you began your journey. Nice touch. That of course stopped once we were on the return flight and the Americans took over.
On their cross country trains you are considered very rude if anyone can hear you talking. It is considered the ultimate in vulgarity to blow your nose in public. They have little access to napkins. You are expected to bring your own. As an extension of this they have no public trash cans and yet there is no litter.
There are no Politeness Police that I noticed. They don’t need them. The social pressure is enough to keep everyone in line. They are polite and seem to be happy as a people. At the same time the suicide rates in school age children are out of site. While they are hard working, punctual and trustworthy, Japanese are not known for being creative or original in their thinking.
Is there a cost for all the rigid traditions? I think so. Much of the price they pay is something they are willing to accept. They have an orderly life but they live in very small houses, drive tiny cars and have fewer options. Those are not evil but they are things that most Americans would not settle for.
To be continued...
homo unius libri
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