Danny Choo
Why Japan?
Back in December I gave a talk at the My Japan Conference - an event supported by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japanese tourism agency.
The theme of the conference was "How to make Japan into a country that foreigners want to visit." The theme of the event came about from the amount of foreigners who left Japan (and staying away) due to the nuclear situation after the 201103 earthquake and tsunami.
Many Japanese and foreign speakers attended and talked about how they were doing their bit to share Japanese culture with the aim to inspire others to think of ideas to bring back foreigners to Japan. My talk can be seen in the video below.
I previously talked about how I discovered and became to love Japanese culture. If I wrote down all the things I loved about Japan, the list would probably go on forever! I particularly enjoy Japanese Pop Culture - the anime, games, manga, cute 2D girlies, figures, dolls and so on - it was this culture that helped me discover more about Japan - the traditional and the modern.
Just a few things that come to mind about Japan that I really appreciate from the viewpoint of actually living here.
Transportation - trains, busses run frequently and on time - you can set your watch by the train arrival times!
Non tipping country - folks over here do not need to be motivated by tips.
Diligent and thorough with work. You never see folks with such passion sweeping the streets - its just incredible.
Attention to detail - the Japanese like to pay attention to detail and have a determination to make things perfect - this is known as Kodawari [こだわり]. Many foreigners dont understand the fuss to make things perfect which is one of the reasons why some of them dont get on over here.
Service sector - the service in Japan is just spot on - and thats because everybody just expects it to be. I order something from amazon and it arrives the same day. I can have folks from the post office come to pickup parcels to be delivered, in the event that trains are late, the station will issue proof that the trains were late so that you can show them to your boss.
Honesty - the honesty of Japanese folk is just astounding. I lost my Lumix DSLR at Narita airport just before I got onto the plane (panic!). When I arrived in Singapore, I was approached by staff saying that they found my camera and that I could just pick it up when I arrived back in Japan.
I left 2 new mobile phones on a train (panic!) and after telling a member of staff, he called the next station where they got on to the carriage and retrieved it for me - I went to the next station to pick up the phones.
My intern left is wallet on his chair in a restaurant - went back after 30 mins and managed to get it back.
And so far Japan is the only place where I have seen unmanned stores.
Endless supply of work - but only once you have built a network of connections. As previously mentioned, Folks in Japan generally do business with folks who they know or through an introduction. Once you have built a network for yourself, you pretty much have an endless supply of work - you then just need to continue cultivating new relationships to build your career or business.As I said - these are just some aspects of Japanese society that I love which some folks around the world may not be able to appreciate just through consuming content online. I've been living in Japan for 13 years now and everyday is always a fresh new experience.
I would love to hear what you love about Japanese culture and why. Have you visited Japan before? Have you been learning about the culture with Japanese friends?
View more at www.dannychoo.com/post/en/26391/Why+Japan.html
Why Japan?
Back in December I gave a talk at the My Japan Conference - an event supported by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japanese tourism agency.
The theme of the conference was "How to make Japan into a country that foreigners want to visit." The theme of the event came about from the amount of foreigners who left Japan (and staying away) due to the nuclear situation after the 201103 earthquake and tsunami.
Many Japanese and foreign speakers attended and talked about how they were doing their bit to share Japanese culture with the aim to inspire others to think of ideas to bring back foreigners to Japan. My talk can be seen in the video below.
I previously talked about how I discovered and became to love Japanese culture. If I wrote down all the things I loved about Japan, the list would probably go on forever! I particularly enjoy Japanese Pop Culture - the anime, games, manga, cute 2D girlies, figures, dolls and so on - it was this culture that helped me discover more about Japan - the traditional and the modern.
Just a few things that come to mind about Japan that I really appreciate from the viewpoint of actually living here.
Transportation - trains, busses run frequently and on time - you can set your watch by the train arrival times!
Non tipping country - folks over here do not need to be motivated by tips.
Diligent and thorough with work. You never see folks with such passion sweeping the streets - its just incredible.
Attention to detail - the Japanese like to pay attention to detail and have a determination to make things perfect - this is known as Kodawari [こだわり]. Many foreigners dont understand the fuss to make things perfect which is one of the reasons why some of them dont get on over here.
Service sector - the service in Japan is just spot on - and thats because everybody just expects it to be. I order something from amazon and it arrives the same day. I can have folks from the post office come to pickup parcels to be delivered, in the event that trains are late, the station will issue proof that the trains were late so that you can show them to your boss.
Honesty - the honesty of Japanese folk is just astounding. I lost my Lumix DSLR at Narita airport just before I got onto the plane (panic!). When I arrived in Singapore, I was approached by staff saying that they found my camera and that I could just pick it up when I arrived back in Japan.
I left 2 new mobile phones on a train (panic!) and after telling a member of staff, he called the next station where they got on to the carriage and retrieved it for me - I went to the next station to pick up the phones.
My intern left is wallet on his chair in a restaurant - went back after 30 mins and managed to get it back.
And so far Japan is the only place where I have seen unmanned stores.
Endless supply of work - but only once you have built a network of connections. As previously mentioned, Folks in Japan generally do business with folks who they know or through an introduction. Once you have built a network for yourself, you pretty much have an endless supply of work - you then just need to continue cultivating new relationships to build your career or business.As I said - these are just some aspects of Japanese society that I love which some folks around the world may not be able to appreciate just through consuming content online. I've been living in Japan for 13 years now and everyday is always a fresh new experience.
I would love to hear what you love about Japanese culture and why. Have you visited Japan before? Have you been learning about the culture with Japanese friends?
View more at www.dannychoo.com/post/en/26391/Why+Japan.html