Thursday, October 27, 2011

Will Miss #380 - reluctance to confront (the good)

Click to see a legible version. 

One of the things you learn pretty quickly in Japan is that Japanese people are quite reluctant to confront people who break the rules (either willfully or unwittingly). If you enter a space which says "no photos", there's a pretty good chance that people won't tell you to put away your camera if they see you taking pictures. This applies not only to foreigners, but also to Japanese people. However, foreigners are far less likely to be confronted because of language concerns and perceived differences in temperament. Frankly speaking, sometimes they can get away with a whole heck of a lot because they know the Japanese won't call them on it. 

In the U.S., people are rarely reluctant to get in your face about anything, so I will miss the reluctance to confront people that I experience in Japan.