Japan - A Model Society

Imagine a country that has no speed breakers on roads. Yes, not one speedbreaker! I have traveled well enough across the globe and it was a pleasant shock for me to observe that Japan has no speed breakers. This means that its people observe self-restraint, and do not need law or other preventive steps to observe discipline and follow civic rules.


Japan must have a maximum number of toilets per Sq Km as compared to any other country in the world - that too free. Wherever you are, you are sure you will find a clean - very clean - toilet near you. If you can’t find one and enter a private office or restaurant, the person there will politely guide you to the toilet with a smile. In a very crowded world-famous Meiji shrine thronged by lakhs of visitors every day, I saw, non-smelly, clean toilets with not a piece of toilet paper on the floor. Nearly all public toilets are lower versions of the famous overvalued toilets that Arvind Kejriwal has installed in his Sheesh Mahal.

Japanese society is so polite and patient that you find yourself at the loss of words. You stop on footpath as a typical tourist group, and the person behind you whether on cycle or feet, will stop patiently till you realise your folly and quickly make way. No one will push you will keep a respectful distance. Though no one violates traffic signals, in case, you do, no one will honk, nobody will shout, forget curse you. I didn’t see one car or truck screeching to a halt at a signal. I heard one horn in nine days when our Pakistani driver did a sharp lane change. They simply glide slowly to stop, anticipating the signal.

Though language is a serious problem for outsiders, Japanese will go out of their way to help you, if he or she can, with a smile. No one is supposed to tip, nor will anyone solicit a tip. It is taken as an insult. The only ones I saw accepting tips were private cab drivers. We all know, the country runs with clockwork precision, so I won’t talk about it.


Most interestingly, no retailer - high end to low end - was selling “torn jeans” nor did I see any youth wearing casual torn jeans or shorts or casual slippers. Sorry, you will see people on the road wearing sober office wear or very elegant, fashionable clothes. Even, apparently not well-to-do people try to dress well. Broad footpaths (without any hawkers) cater to cyclists and pedestrians, walking briskly and purposefully. The cycle is used as a utility vehicle, not as a fashion statement, with mothers bringing home their kids on well-designed cycles with safe rear seats. Even delivery boys have specially designed neat two or three-wheelers, not carrying enormous cloth bags behind, cutting lanes and risking accidents.

I saw young kids from Class 1 to 10, visiting temples, or public places in groups in a disciplined manner, laughing, and smiling in low voice. There can be thousands of people in a place, but all you hear is a humming voice, no throaty loud calls to friends or family. Everyone, without exception, told me that all these qualities of social behaviour and hygiene are taught to them in schools.


There are minor irritants for visitors, like their preference for written documents even now, multiple documents for a simple railway ticket. Rules slowly unravel, not explained easily. Remember, they are world leaders in technology and AI etc!

Japan had a very different character before the end of World War 2. However, society has turned its back on the qualities that had brought misery to its people; it has focused its energies on other pursuits with spectacular results without shedding its civilisational characteristics. I would suggest that we Indians should visit Japan to get inspired. You realise that one can enjoy the good life without creating chaos on the streets or breaking laws to show off your “connections” or “bravery. It is a society living and breathing Karma Yoga daily, following the Zen philosophy of doing every task perfectly.

Our ministers of culture and education should go to Japan to understand how to preserve monuments, how to educate and nurture responsible young citizens with a focused mind, and how to achieve excellence in every aspect of national life. The education minister could begin by immediately implementing training in social behaviour, individual behaviour, and the inculcation of traditional values.

Japan is a society, a civilisation that is at peace with itself. And, this peace is reflected in its behaviour – at social and individual levels. I am sure, they too have problems, but they find solutions from their own native wisdom. Something we can also do, surely.