Will Miss #325 - great feats of strength and endurance

One of the things I often see in Tokyo are relatively slender, average-looking men carting around or hauling enormous loads up (or down) stairs. The amazing thing about it isn't necessarily that they perform back breaking labor without overt concern for damaging themselves and then suing their company for the injury, but that they will haul what must be  hundreds of pounds up a huge flight of steps even when mechanical options are available to ease the load. They do this because of a sense of not wanting to inconvenience people or place them at risk and so as not to risk damage to the equipment. For them, a herniated disc is a small price to pay for doing the job right. Under their unassuming exteriors, they must have muscles of pure titanium.

In Japan, everyday is Festivus, and I'll miss seeing these great feats of strength and determination.

Won't Miss #303 - pointless placating steps

If you've ever called tech support and been asked a string of stupid questions before you can get to the heart of the issue, you'll have some idea about the point I'm about to make. In Japan, I've experienced a lot of situations in which I had to "make a show" or someone else had to take pointless steps before the real issue could be addressed. In my former company, there was always a problem with the temperature in early spring because my location (in a closet-like space with no circulation) was always hotter than the rest of the office (which was open and had multiple windows to open). I wanted to use the air conditioner, but the president kept turning it off. It wasn't until I gave up and sat in my cubicle with an anemic little fan in abject misery (which was interpreted as "gaman", but was really being fed up) for several days that I was allowed to use the air conditioner. It wasn't the need of the air conditioner or the facts of the situation that were wrong, but rather that I had to go through the steps of showing I was willing to "endure" before I would be granted the right not to suffer. Only after the president was placated could I be given relief even though it was clear he knew my case was valid.

In another case, my water heater had developed a problem where it kept shutting off every 10 seconds. The gas company came over and insisted that the problem was a lack of ventilation, even if we used the proscribed fan and had an open window. We knew this was not the case, but they wouldn't look any further until the landlord had someone come in and professionally clean the fan. Only after this pointless step was made would they open up the heater and find the real problem and fix it. Frankly, I'm sure they knew that wasn't the issue but this was a hoop they force customers through before they'll really fix things.

This sort of having to go through the motions when the real issue is known and should be addressed immediately is something I experience much more often in Japan than back home (as I never dealt with it back home), and I very much won't miss it.

Will Miss #239 - a culture of gaman

One of the character qualities that Japanese culture encourages and builds into it citizens is something called "gaman". It can mean slightly different things, but it essentially means to practice tolerance in the face of hardship rather than to complain, act out, or be confrontational. The manner in which this manifests in life here is that (the vast majority of) people tend to be patient with small problems rather than make an issue of them, and they will put up with considerable difficulties rather than walk away or quit. It's one of those things that many foreign folks don't notice right away, but often they benefit from it. You may do a myriad of things that annoy your neighbors, but many of them may choose to simply "endure" the difficulty rather than complain. Many foreigners also fail to practice "gaman" themselves and alienate Japanese people who feel that no reasonable person would complain about the trivialities that foreign folks do.

I will miss the culture of "gaman" and the way in which it encourages patience and cooperation rather than petty complaining and confrontation.