More questions from Deb.

Our former street. So neat!

The final questions from Deb. I answered her earlier ones yesterday.

I remember a blog post about even the concrete in front of your house being something Japanese people take pride in keeping spotless. Do you think that's because so many people in such a small space requires such courtesy? Are the Japanese people very neat generally - desks, houses, clothing etc.? Is it hard to adjust to that when Aussies are so laid-back generally?

 Japanese are fairly neat. But especially in places that are on public display. It is about appearances in many ways. So the front of the house and the entry way are tidy. After that, they are probably as messy as the average Australian. Except as you've already pointed out, it is hard to be too messy in small housing.

I think that generally things have a place and Japanese want to know what that place is, so that they aren't in someone else's way. This is how they manage to get along without major difficulties. You are always on the alert for being in someone else's way. This bothered me tremendously when I first came to Tokyo. I felt like I was such a bother to everyone else, even just stopping to look at the vegetable/fruit section I could get in someone's way. Even when you take your car out, you need to know where you are going to put it when you get to your destination, not just assume that there'll be somewhere to park. A common question from a potential guest: "Is there somewhere to park our car or should we ride our bikes or come by train (depending on where they're coming from)?"

You do get used to great courtesy here. In public places you are often treated by 'official people' very courteously. For example, when you come to road work or even someone in a cherry picker up a pole, there is always at least one person directing traffic or looking out for pedestrians and cyclists. When in Australia '09-'10 I cycled a few times in our suburb. Once I came across some roadwork that included the footpath. It wasn't clear where I should cycle to get through the area, and the road workers paid me no attention at all. I felt un-looked-after.

There are more rules here, though, than Australians are used to. That is hard for Australians to cope with. We've gotten used to a lot of the rules, but some still bother us. It makes the Japanese feel something like comfortable, though, like they know what is expected and then can do them without fear of making a mistake. And even though they don't understand why some of the rules are in place, they just do them. One of the first response our Australian visitors had to many rules we told them was "Why?" Such an Australian (?Western) response.


Thanks Deb, for your insightful questions. I hope that I've managed to go some way towards answering them. 

Anyone else out there got burning questions?