Polite people and machines
There are lot of examples of how politeness is built into the Japanese culture — such as bowing, greeting with a proper level of formality, and using chopsticks in an appropriate way — but there are other ways that are a little more subtle, too. For instance, at the grocery store, the clerk often places items with great care into my basket. Being a typical American, I usually just toss items in and hope they will all fit and the eggs won’t get smashed, but here I became embarrassed of my habit when I saw how the cashier treated my items. Each is carefully placed and some are wrapped in extra paper.
Another example of politeness is in the neighborhood groundskeeping. Whenever someone is using a weed whacker (or I just learned it’s called a “whipper snipper” in Australia!), there is often a second person with them carrying a large screen, basically a 4’ square panel with a handle. The person holds the screen between the weed whacker and any person or thing that could be damaged by flying debris…. this includes cars, houses, and people walking by. So courteous!
I discovered a new one the other day: I was sitting at my desk and I heard a truck backing up on the street. I laughed out loud because it didn’t just make a beeping noise like some trucks in the States, it also makes a friendly announcement. I couldn’t tell exactly what the recording was saying, but I did catch the word sumimasen which means “excuse me” or “sorry”.
Though I haven’t heard any around here, there are apparently trucks in bigger Japanese cities that also play a little song instead of beeping. This is just another way that the country puts safety and politeness first, and also cuteness :)
Oh, and here’s another talking truck I want to track down: the sweet potato truck (yakiimo)…like the ice cream truck, only better!
Honestly, I think one of the reasons that it is harder to learn Japanese language and customs is because people are too polite to tell you if you are doing something wrong! (Needless to say, my language learning has been very slow so far….but I’ll say at least 90% of that is on me though 😂…I’ve been more into observing that actually speaking)
On another note, it’s finally cooling off here, and getting some rain! Looking forward to the leaves changing soon!!
P.S. Our hearts are heavy for E’s hometown, and so many others in the mountains, that are still reeling from Hurricane Helene. Nana’s house (and access road) was spared and had power returned within a week, but many people are still stranded and without water, power or cell service. Nana has been going in to her church to help prepare deliveries of necessities to more remote parts of the county — several hundred families are currently relying on this aid! If you’re interested in contributing to their efforts, please let me know and I can send you more information. 🙏
How lovely it must be to be living in such a polite culture. The garbage truck sounded like an ice cream truck to me. My friends in Marshall had their town nearly completely destroyed. It is so sad what's happened to so many of those little towns.... Many of them will never be the same.