The Art of Graciousness

The scenery in Japan is wonderful. But if you ask either Chuck or me why we love Japan, our answer would always be, “It’s the people.” Consistently everyone is kind and gracious and welcoming. Whether it’s a tour guide, a waiter or waitress or just a person we pass on the street, the Japanese people seem congenitally polite. They have no desire to push ahead and will inconvenience themselves for others.

When our guides give us the agenda for the day, they always end it with “ I hope this is OK with you.” If lose your phone or your wallet in Japan, you don’t have to worry about someone stealing it. They will turn it into the local authority or possibly leave it just where it is so that you can come back and find it. You don’t need to lock your car for fear of someone stealing your valuables. An important Japanese manufacturing company just made a television commercial apologizing to consumers for raising the price of their products.

Umbrellas are available for people to borrow all over towns and then racks are available for you to put an umbrella back when you finish with it. No one would think of keeping an umbrella once they no longer need it . I don’t hesitate to pull out all of my money and let the sales clerk get what she needs to pay for my purchase.

Yesterday as we pulled out of the port of Amami, a group of citizens had gathered to bid us farewell. They were playing the most beautiful music and waving to us as a woman said over a loudspeaker, “Thank you for coming to our island. We hope you will remember our smiles and our love. Please come back to see us.” The crowd on the shore consisted of older people and middle school students and young children, and they waved and sang until we were out of sight.

The scene at the port yesterday was the same as it is every time we leave a port in Japan. Chuck and I lovingly call it the waving ceremony because they will wave with both arms until we sail into the sunset.

Oh, how I wish the people of America could embrace this loving attitude that does not want to put one’s self ahead of others or inconvenience others. How I wish we could embrace friends and strangers with the same love we have felt in every place we have visited in Japan. Our world and our nation would be a better place. But for now we come to Japan because the people here are civil and kind and loving. In Japan, we experience a peacefulness and a serenity that is hard to find anywhere else.En savoir plus