Seven Wonders of Japan: Number Five: 5. The un-attended kiosks (無人販売店) So, you agree that Japan is safe. Even if you believe in the safety in Japan, the fifth wonder is probably hard to believe. If you are lucky enough to visit the country side in Japan where the farmers live, you may encounter a kiosk with the vegetables and the fruit. We find something similar in the US and you may have them in the Europe but they are attended by the sellers. I call the Japanese kiosks as one of the wonders is because they are not attended by anyone (photo 1). They are totally not manned nor attended (no camera either). What is amazing is that they are not robbed or cheated. For many non-Japanese people this is something very difficult to believe that this system can work but it is true and it is very common and popular in Japan. The farmers bring their produce products in the morning, place the goods on the table or a shelf then they leave keeping the place un-attended. In the evening they return to collect the left over and the money. Most of the time, all the products are sold off as they are very fresh and priced very reasonably. The price tags are attached to the products or the bags so you can tell how much to pay (photo 2). There is a can or a box where you put your payment (photo 3). Other than the vegetables and the fruits (most popular) but you can also find an unmanned kiosk for the fish (photo 4), home made sweets, newspaper, nuts, honey, cut flowers (photo 5), woods, fresh crabs, amulets at a shrine (photo 6)and many other products, More amazingly, they offer even the parking lot (photo 7), hot spring bath (photo 8), privately owned park and other services with the same system! As there is no ticket or electronics so a dishonest person can park a car or use the facility without paying the charge but this does not happen (as far as I know, however there is no proof of course). So you may ask, “Why? How can this be possible?” You may not believe this but this is because of the Bushido spirit that is embedded in the culture of Japan. Self respect and honesty are a part of Bushido. No one is watching but the Japanese typically say “The sun is watching”. As we worship the sun as our god in Shintoism, the sun is watching means our god is watching so we cannot hide our actions. As a joke you may say “You can hide your actions at night”. The Japanese covered that too. We say “the earth” is our mother nature so we are being watched all the time and everywhere. One thing I want to add is that the Japanese avoid doing the dishonest thing not because the sun and the earth are watching. It comes from the self-respect that they want to do the right thing. I hope all the karate practitioners will learn through the training of karate, not only the karate techniques but also this aspect of the Bushido spirit. I am writing a separate article regarding this subject. I hope to post it at my blog site when it is proof read, hopefully in the middle of this month.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 16:43:48 +0000
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