Japanese Politeness

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200114-why-japan-is-so-successful-at-returning-lost-property

As with the two articles above, and having traveled to Japan a lot, I can easily see how the Japanese are polite when it comes to returning something that they find and is not their property. As stated in the article umbrellas seem to be the exception, for whatever reason. Staying at a specific hotel and when it rains, the hotel chain always provides umbrellas, with no charge, to be used and of course brought back to the hotel when you return.

Is everyone polite in Japan, if we want to explore a little more beyond returning lost property? Of course not, people are people, and people get stressed, over worked, tired, busy etc..  But for the most part what I've seen is a very polite society.

If we further look at politeness, as an example, walking through Yokohama station, the 5th busiest train/subway station in the world, where is very crowded, getting bumped into would not be out of the ordinary, I have very rarely ever been bumped into either on purpose or by accident, because people are busy and in a hurry, like anywhere in the world. As simple sumimasen, or excuse me, can sometimes be heard when it does happen.

Even when I go to Sogo department store, which is a major tenant of the Yokohama station complex, which has thousands of stores, it can get extremely busy and again its inevitable that you might get bumped into at the department store, but it rarely happens.

People seem to have a "with-it-ness" meaning they are aware of those around them, and make sure to be polite or at least not cause problems for others even in very crowded department store or subway/train station.

Perhaps, if possible, other societies and cultures maybe could learn a little about the politeness of Japanese society, just as Japanese society can always learn from other societies and cultures too.

A learning and taking what is good in every society and culture for the good for everyone.

 2020 Tom Metts,  all rights reserved