In every culture, there are good and bad habits. This is true for Filipinos as it is for the Japanese. But as a Filipino living in this great country, I have observed various Japanese habits which are both admirable and worth emulating by anyone. We could learn from them. In no particular order of importance, listed below are ten of these habits:
1. Be punctual.
When a Japanese sets a particular time, you can count on him/her to observe it. In this way, nobody’s time is wasted. On the other hand, we Filipinos are notorious for following the so-called “Pinoy time,” which unfortunately means “always late.” But the funny thing is, I have particularly observed that here in Japan, when Filipinos make appointments with a Japanese person, they strive hard to arrive on time. And more often than not, they do succeed. The reason for this is obvious: they know that the Japanese will be on time, so they don’t want to be an embarrassment by showing up late. Nakakahiya kasi. But if appointments are made with fellow Filipinos, they tend to revert back to the Pinoy habit. In parties or meetings with fellow Filipinos, we typically have to wait for 1 or 2 hours waiting for others to come. It seems that Pinoys expect other Pinoys to show up late, so they don’t keep the time themselves. The line of thought always goes like this: “Bakit ba tayo pupunta ng maaga? Eh late namang magsisidatingan.”
What do these things imply? To be punctual is a matter of will and priority. We can be on time if we choose to.
2. Do not leave anything on your plate.
There was a time, I was told, during post-war Japan when food was scarce and many people starved. Because of this, they learned to appreciate the value of food. Indeed, children here are taught to empty their plates down to the last grain of rice. It is amazing to see Japanese eating at buffet style (what they call Viking restaurants), eat-all-you-can restaurants with their plates brimming with food, but not leaving anything on their plates uneaten afterwards (except for the uneatable parts, of course). One of my Japanese friends who stayed with us at home (in the Philippines) cleaned his plate every time, much to the delight of my parents. My mom was so particularly impressed with this habit. She wondered why Pinoys, particularly during parties, would fill their plates with so much food they can’t eat, only to throw them afterwards. So much waste. I don’t know how true this is, but there’s this idea that if you finish everything on your plate, you are “pataygutom” or particularly hungry. It appears that it is better to feign only a slight interest on food and to hide one’s appetite in order to not offend the host. Is this true or not?
Nevertheless, there is a lesson to be learned here: waste not, and value food.
3. Develop self-reliance.
I love the concept of DIY = do it yourself. There are many stores here in Japan which operate on this concept. Everything from gardening to plumbing are offered in these stores. As an example, one time we ordered a relatively large bookcase from a catalog. We expected that the bookcase will be delivered “as is” and wondered how many people would actually be coming over to carry it. To our surprise, when our doorbell rang, we found only a single woman carrying several boxed items. Our bookcase, it turned out, was still to be assembled. By us. Assembling it was not part of their service. It came as a shock that we had to do it ourselves. At any rate, the assembly turned out to be rather simple, once we got the hang of it. Because of this, several of the new furnitures in our home were assembled by Baggy himself.
Aside from this, there’s also self-reliance at home. In the absence of household helpers or maids, the Japanese only relied on themselves to do their household chores. Even Filipinos living here have managed to do without household help. Not easy, of course, but still manageable. I think we rely too much on household help in the Philippines, some people actually think that we cannot do away with them. The good news is, we really can. It takes effort, but we learn a lot in this process.
4. Deliver courteous customer service.
One time my sister and I went to an optical store to have our eyeglasses made. While we were seated, my sister was surprised when the store clerk got down on his knees in front of us, so that he was looking up to us, and we were looking down on him. After we have made our purchases, he led us out of the store and politely bowed and thanked us. Coming from the Philippines, it was probably the best customer service my sister has ever experienced. Curious, she then asked me if it is always like that everywhere. Not really, I told her. He was probably overdoing it. But while other stores do not always offer the same regal-like treatment to customers, you can mostly count on them to be polite, courteous, and even smiling (except for the big cities, I guess). I’ve heard of foreigners complaining that the smiles are mostly faked or forced. But who cares? Better a faked smile than a frown, right? They probably have never shopped in the Philippines. The salesclerks there are the grouchiest and rudest people I’ve ever encountered.
As a customer, I would appreciate being served with courteousness and respect. I don’t have to be worshipped like a queen; just treat me with the respect that I deserve as a customer!
5. Develop a strong sports hobby.
In one of our parties, my colleagues started asking one another what were their sports hobbies. Turned out that one of them was an expert in “takkyuu” or table tennis, another was an expert in badminton. One was so hooked on folk dancing, the other on mountaineering. When it was my turn, I half-heartedly told them that I do table tennis, but certainly not with avid interest as theirs. To my dismay, I realized that for me, sports was only a passing fancy. I never really took it seriously. It is a seriously underdeveloped facet of my life.
At the daycare which Aya attends, sportsfest activities are annually held and participated by children as young as one year old. I found this rather amazing, considering that when I was in elementary, I never got to participate in any sports events organized by our school. Sports were reserved only for the able athletes, those who were blessed with talents. I watched many a sports tournament in our school sitting in bleachers! Here in Japan, sportsfests are considered main activities of schools, including elementary and high schools. All of them participate, not just the chosen few. It is not amazing, then, that they would consider sports as valuable as any aspect in their lives.
To be continued…