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Polite or Rude? (Lining Practice)

Japanese people are known for being polite, patient, and considerate.  International viistors highly commend this quality of Japanese people and Japanese society.      

Photo by Pankgraf used under CC

For example, some travellers are amazed at well-mannered Japanese drivers: Even at a busy traffic intersection, Japanese drivers do not honk and patiently wait for the clearance. Is this true all the time?

Japanese train system is also well-known worldwide.  It is well organized and operated, as talked about in our previous entry "Modern or Primitive?"  On the other hand, Japanese trains are notorious for being very crowded.  Especially during the rush hours, trains are literally packed that people have to push themselves into the train.  A train conductor also helps people to get on the train in order to close the doors.  Okay, this is the "survival of the fittest" strategy, right? 

IN GENERAL, people are pretty patient and wait in an orderly fashion for the train coming.  On the train arriving at the platform, however, you would sometimes notice an amazing scene: The line gets disorganized and people hurry to the entrance. 

In order to get a seat, some people use “elbow attacks,” or strategies by which other people are blocked from getting on the train.  Even on the train, the elbow strategies to secure their personal space go on.  Staying in Japan for a while would get yourself accustomed to a Japanese custom that people don’t say “excuse me” or “sorry” when they bump into someone.  Even after being familiarized with this custom, these “elbow attacks” would surely be upsetting.

Another interesting scene can be observed at a supermarket.  Think about how you would behave in the following situation.  People wait patiently in line at a checking-out counter.  You are the third in the line.  You notice another cashier, which was closed, start operating.

You might start wondering whether or not you yourself could move to the newly-open cashier or you should let the person in line before you go first.  Or this thought would not come into your mind at all: based on the "first come, first served" basis, you would think you SHOULD wait in an American sense. 

A moment of your hesitation would make a huge difference. You would see the persons behind you in the line quickly move to the cashier, and there is no chance for either you or the person before you.  Even your frustrations, which are expressed with “excuse me,” to raise people’s attention would just end up exhausting yourself more. 

These practices seem to be less offensive in Japan.  Do they have totally different norms about what is an acceptable behavior or what is not?