A thing I always do outside is people observation.
Commonly, I focus on how they look, what they wear and how they behave
differently. In public, people don’t seem to distinguish themselves too
much. So to get more insight of them, I usually observe their houses
through their windows. It is very common in Sweden that windows are
clear for anyone to see. In Japan, you literally cannot do that. I
haven’t seen a single window that is clear and see-through which makes
me wonder what Japanese really do behind closing doors.I somehow
feel that this can contribute towards their behaviour in public where
they seem to be distant even though politeness is very common. It’s not
the matter of what they do as it is quite universal but it’s how they do
it. For example, everyone does grocery shopping but how do certain
people do it differently is more interesting. Generally of what I have
been observed, the term “less is more” seems to be associated
with the Japanese lifestyle. Japanese people don’t accumulate as much as
we westerners do. Take food for example, everything comes in a small
amount at supermarkets and convenient stores. You don’t buy a bag of
apples. Apples are selling as a single entity. You also don’t get more
than three carrots in a bag. In fact when selling one carrot, they are
neatly wrapped and displayed as singles. Japanese people clearly likes
it less and neat. This idea of “getting less” has been
accommodating to their lifestyle. So what they do is buy a small amount
of food every time they do grocery shopping. So imagine having fresh
food on the table every day. Sound wonderful doesn’t it? But this brings
me to the question of time consumption. How much leisure time do these people really have? Where is the “lack of time”
behaviour? It’s interesting how they never seem to stress about not
having enough even though they don’t purchase or accumulate much. This
type of behaviour is not generally applicable in my country where
consumers are often “time-conscious” and if they are doing grocery
shopping, they do it once in a week or even month depends how much they
buy. We just don’t have time to do grocery shopping everyday as Japanese
people do. I can’t say what is best for the people but I wouldn’t mind
having fresh food every day.
What Japanese people do in their leisure time is obviously Karaoke. Karaoke is very common, not only in Japan but other parts of Asia. While westerners go to a pub and cheering, Japanese people go to karaoke and singing. Again behind closing doors, Karaoke is a private thing. Compare to a pub where people actually meet new people, Karaoke is mostly for a “group of people” where everyone is already introduced to each other. What Japanese people is doing is very discreet and in behave of others and themselves. By that I mean, in public they are quite distant and at home, everyone is accepting one’s privacy. This is from my own experience with people in Japan but that doesn’t necessarily mean every Japanese person follows this kind of lifestyle. However, I like the idea of “less is more”, things seem to have more meaning then.
What Japanese people do in their leisure time is obviously Karaoke. Karaoke is very common, not only in Japan but other parts of Asia. While westerners go to a pub and cheering, Japanese people go to karaoke and singing. Again behind closing doors, Karaoke is a private thing. Compare to a pub where people actually meet new people, Karaoke is mostly for a “group of people” where everyone is already introduced to each other. What Japanese people is doing is very discreet and in behave of others and themselves. By that I mean, in public they are quite distant and at home, everyone is accepting one’s privacy. This is from my own experience with people in Japan but that doesn’t necessarily mean every Japanese person follows this kind of lifestyle. However, I like the idea of “less is more”, things seem to have more meaning then.
