Japan Unveiled Late-Blooming Culture

  https://chiku.setagayashakyo.or.jp/member/detail/1136 Fig. Students say Good Morning to the volunteer They walk to school. The randoseru is a durable, square backpack that Japanese elementary school students carry. It's a symbol of Japan's school culture, often given as a gift when kids start their educational journey.  Japanese kids go to school on their own. Every weekday morning from 7:45 to 8:25, volunteers stand at checkpoints to watch over the kids and ensure they arrive at school safely. Positioned strategically to control traffic when kids are crossing, the volunteers warmly greet them by saying, “Good morning. Have a safe walk.” “(Ohayo gozaimasu. Itte rasshai) As one of these volunteers, I can share what typically happens when I greet the kids. About 100 students pass by me, so I say "Good morning. Have a safe walk" around 100 times. Surprisingly, most of them bow to me with a cheerful "Good morning." When a kid does this,   before     I gr...

          Fig. A Norwegian Forest Cat. Even though he is not a human, he is a hub for a dozen humans. I described a man who collects garbage in Komazawa Olympic Park [1]. This man and his wife come to this park twice every day with his cat, a Norwegian Forest Cat.  Around this cat, more than a dozen people come together to enjoy being with him. It’s the first time I’ve realized that a creature, not necessarily human, can serve as a hub for the humans around it. This elderly cat has kidney issues, such that the owner and those around the cat are primarily concerned with ensuring he uses the toilet. Otherwise, he becomes ill. One quirk about the cat is that he doesn’t use the toilet at home; instead, he heads into the park bushes for that purpose. Afterward, the owner or their wife collects the waste in a bag and takes it home. The cat doesn’t seem to view humans as superior beings. He doesn’t respond when called, and when we think he’s seeking affect...

  Fig. The weeding man. One of my daily routines is to go to the Komazawa Olympic Park, Setagaya, Tokyo. I saw a man clearing small weeds growing at the main steps of the park. He does not belong to any volunteer group either. He simply feels good to remove those weeds quietly. It turns out that he was the silver medalist of wrestling Greco-Roman feather weight class at the 1968 Mexico Summer Olympic Games. The final of the Mexico event was a draw, however, his accumulated score up to the semi-final was less than that of the USSR wrestler Rurua. After Mexico, he was the winner of international wrestling championships twice. I often ask him about how I can be as healthy as he is. I also ask him what to and what not to eat. When I said to him that it is great to be a silver medalist at an Olympic game, he said “That, even though I am proud of, belongs to my past. More important is what you can do next after you achieved certain thing. “ He has been and he is still teachin...