Daily Life
About Daily Life in Japan
By Haruko Yanagita
Anyone born into this world needs to be raised by someone in order to survive. Normally, parents provide that nurturing care, so children are typically influenced by their parents in many ways. Words are one such example. Words of love and affection offered by a mother to her child have a particularly important influence on shaping the child’s personality.
In the beginning, infants tend to cry when they lose sight of their mother, but as they grow older, they smile even when cradled by someone they do not know, and begin to enjoy being held by almost anyone. Gradually, they begin to be able to relate to people other than their mother.
However, characteristic of their thought pattern, infants are unable to clearly distinguish between themselves and the world around them. They can only analyze and acknowledge events from their own standpoint or from a single perspective, and tend to think in a self-centered manner. For this reason, infants and toddlers frequently fight over a toy when playing with each other. At times like this, adults can often be heard saying, “This is so-and-so’s toy. Did you ask if you can play with it?” to a child who is trying to take away another child’s toy, or “Be nice, and let your friends play with it, too,” to a child who is keeping a toy all to himself/herself. Through such words of discipline, children come to see themselves separately from other people and to understand the difference between their own things and other people’s things, and learn what to do when they want something.
Compulsory education begins when a child is six years old. By studying among peers, children also cultivate social skills. To children, the day they begin school is a moment that have long awaited, and to parents, it is also a joyous occasion that marks their child’s growth. Parents proudly write their child’s name on the brand new school bag he/she has received as a present and all other items prepared for school, including textbooks, school supplies, shoes, and gym wear. By having their parents write their name on their belongings, children learn that there are things that belong to them and things that belong to their friends. They also learn that just as they have something they treasure, their friends have something they treasure, too.
Similarly, the Japanese people place importance on-distinguishing personal property and other people’s property in daily life. For example, if branches of a persimmon tree planted in a neighbor’s yard extend over into one’s own yard, to whom does the persimmon growing on the extended branch belong? If underground stems of a moso bamboo planted in one’s own yard stretch into a neighbor’s yard, to whom does the bamboo shoot growing from the stem belong? Such questions are not rare, and rules are clearly prescribed in the Civil Code and other relevant laws and regulations. According to them, agricultural crops harvested in a field belong to the farmer who owns the field, and anyone who takes the crop without permission may be punished by law. This is only an example, but the Japanese people are considered to be highly law-abiding citizens.
In supermarkets and convenience stores, products that are displayed for sale belong to the store until you pay for them and buy them. In the case of clothes, you may take the items in your hands in order to make a decision whether to buy them or not, but should refrain from handling them unnecessarily. Food items are sold to be eaten, so it is basic manners not to touch what you do not intend to buy. Whatever the case, however, products in stores are important merchandise that is offered for sale by the stores.
The Japanese people are also known to dutifully take to the police box lost and found items, such as a camera someone has left behind at a tourist spot or a wallet found on the street. They place themselves in the shoes of the owner of the camera or wallet and consider that person’s distress. They also envision how relieved that person would be if the item were returned, and even imagine his/her smiling face. In this way, the Japanese people value the spirit of mutually helping each other and think about other people’s feelings as much as possible.
In addition to one’s personal property and other people’s property, there are also some things that are public property. They include libraries, community centers, railway stations, parks, and hospitals, to name just a few. Precisely because they are facilities that are used daily by many people, it is important to use them with care and consideration not to inconvenience or cause problems to others. However, in recent years, there have been incidents where toilet paper has been stolen from public bathrooms and other similar incidents, and warning notices are becoming conspicuous in public facilities. They offer a glimpse into a sad society where some people seem to think that other people’s property is their own. Still, it can be said that the vast majority of Japanese people distinguish their own property from other people’s, and try to utilize public property with care.