When I was in Japan as a US Marine, I had my ex wife there with me for a couple months. One night we went and had yakisoba at a small restaurant close to our apartment just off base. When we were finished, I left the tip on the table and paid the bill, then we left.
We were maybe 25 yards from the place when I heard this shrill voice shouting in our direction, and I turned around to see the proprietor of the restaurant, a little older woman who was maybe 70 years old, running after us as fast as she could. Believe me, it was a sight you'd never forget. I almost panicked, thinking “what did we do wrong?”.
Aa it turned out, what I did wrong was leave money on the table for a tip, which was already included in the price of the meal. Thus, she thought I'd dropped the money by accident, and risked a heart attack chasing us down to give it back.
I learned in my year over there that the Japanese are saturated with a sense of honor and personal integrity that is so prevalent that it's hard to even describe for me, an American. You could drop your wallet somewhere, and there it would stay, unless a Japanese citizen found it and decided to track you down and return it, with all of the money in it still there.
While there are some folks in the US who have an ethical standard that is comparable, they are few and far between. The Japanese are this way by default.
Took some getting used to, and nearly ruined me for the rest of the world.
Edit: It seems that the time has arrived in which I may need to revisit this issue involving culture shock.. because there is definitely something to be said about the unlooked-for generosity of you upvoting Quorans. Thank you. Sincerely.
No comments:
Post a Comment