Respect for Time and Space in Tokyo

Respect for Time and Space in Tokyo
Written by: Wigent
 
Shortly after college, I became a researcher and was assigned to do a survey on the perceptions of Filipinos on Japanese. The study revealed that the Japanese were perceived highly in attitudes like being disciplined, punctual and respectful. Some see these attitudes to be the reason why their country has become the second largest economy in the world. Personally, I have long thought of the Japanese to have the same traits, however, never really dealt with them in business. I think it’s the same with these respondents, they have built their perceptions of the Japanese through media or what others have told them about. Although I have been to Japan before doing this research, I went there for fun, so I thought going there again would be exceptionally educating and see if my (and the respondents’) perceptions were correct.

My present job has given me the opportunity to do that. So while I was doing my daily work in Tokyo I did a mini-investigation and became more observant in the way the Japanese conducted their daily work. I never thought that I could see so much in my short stay.

Every morning I would walk to the subway station to commute to the office. So the first one I observed was the pacing of how Japanese walk. Some walked fast and normal like Filipinos. However, in general, they did really walk fast. By “fast”, I mean faster than most Filipinos would walk. Some even ran and nobody minded. (I say this because I observed in our country that some stare at someone who runs when he’s in a hurry which I think is not polite.)

After this short walk I would reach the train’s platform in a few minutes. Everywhere in the station, reminders for the passengers can be seen and one of these is the very reliable train schedule. Every station has one and according to the schedule, the next train will depart at 8:32AM . “On the dot? No way,” I said in disbelief. I thought maybe the train will depart like 8:30AM or 8:35AM. A few minutes later, the train arrived. We got inside the jam-packed train where everyone looked like sardines in a can. After a few seconds, the train left. At 8:32AM!

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