Firefly in Japan

Well, it's the 8th of November, which means that Starbucks (and every other kind of shop) begin playing cheesy Christmas Carols on loop. These drive me absolutely crazy, and I'm actually looking forward to the return of the regular shitty muzak.

I want to talk about something interesting in Japan - the concept and idea of politeness. More importantly, how the concept of politeness overseas integrates into Japanese culture.

Last night, I was in Shibuya station. I was heading home, and I was in a bit of a rush. All of a sudden, a small opening appeared in the crowd. I immediately starting walking towards it. At the same time, I spotted a woman directly to my left who was equally the same distance from the opening. We both looked at each other, and I immediately shot for the opening, and dissappeared into the crowd.

After this event, when I was on the train, I realised that by Western standards, I was very rude. However by Japanese standards, it was a completely natural thing to do. The concept of "women first", does not exist in Japan. In fact, I realised that the lady from the crowd would have allowed me to take the opening, and if I waited for her to take it, she probably wouldn't have. So my actions were actually culturally appropriate, and more time efficient.

If however, I did the same thing in Australia or America, I would surprise the woman, and at the very least, receive distasteful looks from the people around me.

In other situations in Japan, when I instinctively gesture for a woman to go first, I receive a confused look, and after she confirms that I am offering her the chance to go first, she generally proceeds cautiously and awkwardly.

This is a rare cultural gap, at least from a foreign perspective, where a foreign custom would actually be more polite than a Japanese custom.