First and Foremost, I would like to thank the
Saitama government of Japan and the Japan International Cooperation Agency or
JICA for giving me the opportunity to travel to the country everyone knows as
the “Land of the Rising Sun”, Japan.
Together with me where selected department chairs of the college of
Engineering of the University of San Jose-Recoletos, selected faculty and chair
from the college of Engineering from the University of San Carlos, selected
graduating engineering students from USJR and USC. I also would like to thank my dean, Dr.
Virgilio Abellana, for selecting me as one of the department chairs to go to
Japan, and the VP for Academics, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Bolilia, for giving the
approval of our travel.
What makes this travel even worth thanking for, is
that, we did not use money out of our own pockets. Excluding the application for passport and
Japanese Visa, all expenses were sponsored by JICA through the Saitama
International Exchange Division. From
plane ticket fare for Cebu to Narita Airport and Vice Versa, to Hotel
Accommodations, to meals, to transportation fares, and even allowances for daily
and personal use during the length of the training, all have been covered by
JICA. This lifetime of ours is not
enough to express our heartfelt gratitude to our very gracious hosts. Still, we would like to say, DOMO ARIGATO
GOZAIMASU!!!
The Saitama experience took place last October 19
to November 7, 2014. Almost 3 weeks for
the faculty on training. While most
people we know thought of our coming to Japan was just about relaxation and
leisure, it was not as they thought of to be.
The travel was a training, a project named as “The Saitama-Cebu
Comprehensive Monozukuri Project.” The
faculty and students were trained by being exposed, involved and witnessed the
actual processes of different Japanese Small and Medium Enterprise or SMEs that
follow the Monozukuri philosophy in their manufacturing process. Aside from that, the learning of the Japanese
culture, traditions, and practices were also of equally essential value, as
most of these define the society that they have today. Truly, there was a lot learned from the culture
immersion and ‘Job-Shadowing’.
The students and faculty have different outcomes at
the end of the training. While both are
anchored on having a very good reference to the book ‘Life in the Real World’ by Dr. Yoshida Yoshikazu of Toyo
University, both groups have specific goals to attain. While the student’s outcome was how much they
have learned and being ready to apply it later by the time they will be working
for a living, the instructors on the other hand were more on how they will be
able to propagate teaching Japanese culture to a much larger group of learners
(the other students). The students will
sooner also be employed to different companies, most especially Japanese
ones. These is being able to make them
ready not only technically, but also guided with the right attitudes, virtues,
and philosophy. Or more importantly,
they could be the next generation of teachers to teach the same philosophy.
AS for me, my experience to that travel and
training has changed a lot of perspective in life. Some renewed, reactivated, while some needs
to change to be able to sustain life, not only for me, but also for the rest of
the community. There has been a lot
worth noting why they, Japan, as country, has been a very developed country,
and in comparison why we are still a developing country.
I had my basic education at a Chinese school from
my province. We were exposed to the
curriculum as standardized by our country’s Department of Education, and
another which we considered as a Chinese curriculum. The Chinese curriculum, so to speak, was much
like the DepEd curriculum, however, it was taught in the Chinese language. We learned how to read Chinese sentences,
stories, books, write our Chinese formal themes, make our art the Chinese way,
and even solve mathematical problems the Chinese way. As a general impression by most people from
the community, most students who came from Chinese schools are very good with
mathematics, hence, they become very successful businessmen. I am an exception though, as I chose to be an
Engineering instructor.
But what I meant to stress by my being educated
with the Chinese curriculum is not the reading, the writing, the solving of
problems, but by what all our Chinese instructors teach us aside from the topic
at hand. They teach us about Confucius,
Lao Tzu, Mencius. They teach us about
their philosophies, and living with those should make us successful
persons. There is discipline, respect,
obedience, patience, virtue. For nine
years, we were made to experience those in many different ways, in a practical
and effective way, not on theory, but definitely more on practice.
This is what I saw much in every Japanese person
that we get to meet or acquainted with.
They do not just do it because of occasion, but they have been living
with it. The philosopher’s that I have
mentioned earlier have given much influence in their community, as well as the
influence of their Shinto religion.
Here are the most notable of their culture,
practices, as witnessed by me, that I definitely conclude have contributed much
to their state in the global world.
Japanese are Respectful people
Bowing is the most obvious exhibition of culture in
Japan. It is an expression of humility.
It always indicate respect. Bowing has been very natural in Japan. It has been ingrained in their culture and
society. It shows respect to the person
or the thing you are bowing to.
They bow in many different occasions. They bow when they make a greeting, when they
make formal or casual introductions.
These cases normally require you to exchange with a bow also, to show
appreciation to the person before you.
In stores, restaurants, it is common for staffs to
bow to their customers, whether they come in or just about to leave. From what I learned, they treat the customer
as gods of some sorts (need to verify on these).
They do not bow only to people, but also to other
things of spiritual relevance. You would
see a lot of them bowing to their different gods, mostly on shrines.
When they give thanks, or show apology, they
usually give a speech first, then succeeded with a bow.
Bowing has been so ingrained in their culture, that
even when they talk to someone on the phone, they still perform a bow, even
though the person on the other side does not see him (an amazing fact).
Japanese are always ‘ON-TIME’
This aspect has been exhibited in so many ways as
far as what I have seen. Take the
instance of observance of time. They are
always very particular of it. They are
either on-time or very early for the desired time of appointment or
meeting. They never go beyond the
allocated time budget, so as not to affect the other scheduled activity.
Even their train arrival and departures are always
on time. A few seconds of being late for
the desired trip, one will have to wait for next schedule. And if that happens, the rest of the daily
activities are either disrupted or delayed.
Japanese are Efficient People
There’s not too much ‘DOWN’ time with them as far
as what I have observed. In the grocery
stores, line queueing at the cashier does not take long lines for a long
time. While a cashier is available to transact
the purchase, putting the bought items into a bag is done at a designated area
and done by the customers themselves.
This allows the cashier to do the same transaction process with the next
customer immediately. When there are
more customers, some staff on duty will automatically go over to the other
counters that are not in use to function as cashiers so as to entertain more
customers.
When about to pay the bill after dining in a
restaurant, the customer itself goes to the cashier area and pay the bill,
contrary to other practices where you have to call the waiter to ask for the
bill, wait for a time until it is given, pay through the waiter again, and wait
for the change, if ever there is such.
One time, an event was taking place. The first part was about student’s
presentation, so the presentation area was arranged for that setting. After the presentations, the culminating part
is to follow, which needs a different setting.
In just a minute, the façade was changed. Every Japanese near that area helped in the
re-organizing, even those with respectable positions in their offices. Quite contrary to what we have experienced in
our setting, where we need to call someone else to do things like that kind of
scenario or situation.
We had several experience involving the
police. No need to elaborate
though. The concerns were processed in
less than 30 minutes, with desirable results.
This is not the case with our police here. You know what I mean.
Technology and automation have further increased
their already efficient persona. In a
type of restaurant, you just need to pay the amount to a food you want through
a machine, and automatically you will be issued with a receipt indicating the
food you want. Upon entering the
restaurant, you just give the receipt to the staff, and just a few minutes, you
can start enjoying your meal.
Their cash registers, once bills are inserted and
coins are dropped to the coin area, the register’s automated system processes
fast computation and immediately gives change in an estimated time of less than
3 seconds. That’s fast already as
compared to a cashier doing manual entry of payment, opening the cash drawer,
counting for the change.
As mentioned earlier, trains run fast, so as always
keeping up with time. Ticket of payments
are convenient and fast, whether buying through their automated ticketing
centers at the train systems, or whether using their specialized card upon
entry and exit in their train stations.
During work times, the only long break they
recognize is the lunch break. There is
no siesta time. This equates to more
task finished as there is not much distraction to work.
Japanese value their possessions
Some Japanese consider life and spirits in several
inanimate objects. These objects that
they use naturally garner personal attachments.
There are several memories associated with the objects, and eventually
become their way of life. This is one
aspect of the Japanese culture of having a sense of appreciation towards
things.
This gave me an understanding from my watching of animes(Japanese
animation) and reading of mangas(Japanese comics) from that past, that
protagonist calls their weapons with names.
It is based on culture, the valuing of an object, not just as a thing, but
a living spirit in it. So whenever they
give these objects to another, they still feel responsible to the object, and
hope that the new individual having possession of it is able to utilize the
value of its potential and does not get any discomfort or inconvenience.
This was our basis when we purchased items from
their store named ‘Treasure Factory’.
The items on sale are bought from previous owners and sold to
others. Everything was in very good
condition, and your money is worth buying the items on sale.
Japanese Love Nature
Though Japan is highly urbanized, as expected of a
very developed country, you would wonder how possible it is that the metro area
is surrounded still by forests, green lands, clean rivers, undisturbed hills.
This has a very strong basis in their ancient
monozukuri philosophy. Human beings make
up the deficiency of the universe.
Instead of destroying the gifts of nature, helping the nature is the
best option, by preserving and even improving it. When making man-made objects, nature is
tapped to perfect it. Understand the
purpose of nature. Be one with
nature. Live with nature.
One of the most impressive learning that we had was
when we visited a road and bridge construction site. It was the best learning that we had, not
because of the how the road or the bridge was constructed, but how was it built
to protect the natural inhabitants of that area affected. The road was of high importance for Japan,
yet nature was considered and valued as such.
A design for road and bridge was already in place. Before construction was in full blast, they
made an inventory of the plants, animals, and state of the river in that
area. From that, they found out there
were a lot of almost endangered species living in that area, and it is only in
that area of Japan where it exists, so it has to be protected.
The residents, together with the Japanese
government, the construction company, the industries that are located nearby,
worked together so as to protect and maintain the current ecosystem in the
area.
When we visited the site, we were requested to
blow-off necessary dusts in our pants and shoes so that foreign bodies like
unwanted organisms may not be able to survive in that area. The construction site needs heavy equipment,
but to protect the current state of the land and avoid much dust, metal plates
were placed over the ground, so that machines, shoes and other things will not
get into direct contact with the protected ground. We even wondered why some residents pulled
several plants with beautiful flowers.
It was then later during the lecture that those are considered as ‘alien’
species, and does not need to reside in that protected area.
They understand nature. They know the purpose of nature. They intend to be ONE with nature.
Urbanization and modernization have grown together
with Nature in Japan.
Japanese value their past
Their history as a nation and as a country have
been well documented, and preserved.
They honor very important people in their history. They made museums and monuments in honor of
them, for the contributions that they bring that brought glory to Japan.
The past brings a lot of lessons. Some are desirable, some are not. It is important to learn the lessons of the
past. Not to commit the same mistakes,
uphold those that are righteous and worth living for.
This are evident of the several museums, heritage
sites, and temples that they have. All
have been preserved, and most have existed for already hundreds of years. Those places tell the story of Japan, from
their hardships, to their renaissance, to their growth as a country.
Most noteworthy places we’ve been for me are the
Tomioka Silk Mill, the first School of Confucius at Ashikaga, the Industrial Museum
at Nippon Institute of Technology, the EDO-Tokyo Museum.
Other things Japanese do that is worth
Noting
The Japanese are very hospitable. They provide you with anything, and make sure
that you are always comfortable with whatever you do.
When you leave the place you have visited, where
usually a high ranking person in that office or company have welcomed you, they
exhibit a very admirable act of graciousness.
They form an arrangement, where the highest ranking is the one in front,
followed by those in lesser ranking in observance with hierarchy. As you leave, together they all bow at you,
stands up to upright position and waves until eye contact with almost everyone
are out of sight.
They observe traffic rules with utmost
obedience. Even though when there are no
vehicles passing by, they never attempt to cross the street until such time the
walk sign gives its go signal. They only
cross the street at appropriate pedestrian lanes.
They prefer to walk when distances are not that
far. Even older people walk faster than
us. A lot use bicycle as their means of
transportation. This is one reason why
most Japanese are really healthy. They
burn a lot calories and do a lot of cardio while leaving for work or school and
going back home.
In Conclusion
Japan has attained success and stability as a
country not because they are highly modernized, not because they have companies
leading in the world market, or providing services and items to other companies
worldwide, not because they are a country of four seasons. Japan has succeeded with one very essential
aspect, the Japanese as a person himself.
A Japanese individual possess the qualities that I
have mentioned: disciplined, respectful, efficient, value their possessions,
value their past, value for nature. A
community’s fundamental unit is an individual.
With those basic qualities, there is respect, love and harmony to
everyone. They have been taught early of
the right philosophies. They have been
living through with the practical philosophies.
As they live harmoniously with one another, the live harmoniously as a
nation, as a country.
Japan is a model for a country like us, the
Philippines. To succeed as a nation, to
be with more good values and virtue, we need to live and act like what the
Japanese do.
This is a challenge, not only for me, but all the
other co-trainees during the immersed training.
Already embedded our own set of culture, a paradigm shift might be too
herculean to take.
In the words of Confucius, one of Japan;s
influences, he said “To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in
order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the
family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our
personal life, we must first set our hearts right.”
True. To
change the world cannot be done overnight.
It has to go into single but continuing steps of improvement.
This has to start with me. Then to my family. Then to my community. The community shall itself be responsible for
nation building.
A tough task to follow. It may take more out of me. Not just being an engineering instructor, but
a life instructor. This is a challenge,
a challenge I am willing to take. A
challenge that someday may be the catalyst for change, not necessarily by me, but
for those who would follow the path and be willing to change the lives of
everyone else.
My life’s perspective have been changed. I hope to affect someone else.
