The invisible society

An early morning train passing Fukakusa.

Japan is often considered a society of rules. From time to time we are likely to hear such comments on Japan, and even Japanese people will admit it as a fact. In the past two months, even tiny little details are constantly reminding me of one of the fundamental and widespread idea of Japanese society: responsibility. Due to the responsibility especially when it relates to one's profession,  the society at it very surface appearance is maintained by everyone in the society.

 In the washroom of CIE building.

             The image of the well maintained society  is  firstly  showed through the public services. It is certain that almost everyone who firstly come to Japan will be impressed by the public toilets. It is very rare that the toilet will be out of toilet paper or liquid soup. In Kansai Gaidai's toilet, even the newly replaced toilet paper are especially folded as in the style of hotel toilet. The personal who is in charge of this cares even the details, which shows a great sense of consideration. Some extra toilet paper are often placed on the board inside the stall, not only inside school but also in some department stores that I went.

Gaidai Festival.

           During the Gaidaisai festival this year, the decoration was everywhere in the campus. The different booths had to take some space for the preparation of the food. It looks like a mess, but underneath everything, there were boarder lines in between: as seen as the plastic sheet that the students put under everything. After the festival took place, everything was cleaned and took way as nothing has ever happened in there.

Gaidai Festival.

          One thing that recently impressed me is the bench in the Fukakusa train station that just got repaired. I sit on the same bench almost every time when I was waiting, but in that particular morning  some wood stripes were replaced with some new ones. In Canada, things got repaired very slowly. It takes time for someone to notice the problem as well as the actual repairing, and unsurprisingly you can always know they are doing so because there is always a notice sign. However, things in Japan are done unnoticed. I remember only one time seeing a cleaning worker in Kansai Gaidai's washroom, and at most times they remain invisible while the job is never delayed.

A construction site beside Gaidai. Clear plastic boards are used for the protection. 

          There seem to be an invisible plastic sheet for everyone in Japan. They clean after themselves as carrying the garbage with them due to the fact that there is not many rubbish can on the streets; They do their job very quickly and care even the most unnoticeable details. Somehow this image of Japan shows at the same time a caring for the others and a carelessness for the others. It sounds ridiculous, but it seems to be the only way for me to explain what I perceived in my daily life in Japan. The people are taking care of the own business, with full responsibility and the most considerable attitude, while when it comes the time when they are doing things only depending on their own opinion, they are unlikely to do it.

( The title of this blog is taken from the film 2046, directed by Wong Kar-wai in 2004. It is a dream-like story about a man using wrting to deal with memories of different people. I took the film's title out of a personal favor and the wish to use the blog to document my experience in Japan. )