I always enjoy observing the cultural difference between Americans and Japanese. There are many things in daily life to discover the obvious difference. Catching the school bus is one of them.
At my neighborhood area, we usually have 10- 12 students who gather up at the same school bus stop.
Some moms come to the bus stop by car, although it is within walking distance. Now I know people ride a car only for 5 minutes walking distance. Perhaps for them, riding a car almost equals to wearing a pair of slippers. They might consider a car as their body parts.
There is one more thing that I was surprised. I discovered a difference in people’s attitude toward the concept of time.
After the bus arrives at the bus stop, the child comes out from the backseat of car, walks to the driver’s seat, and hugs and kisses to mom. Then, the child slowly walks to the school bus. I never saw anybody including the bus driver and other students getting mad at the slow child. They patiently wait for the child to get on the bus. Everything is slow.
When I saw this scenery for the first time, I was surprised. I would not see this kind of scenery in Japan. If Japanese mom comes to bus stop by car, the mom and the child would come out from the car before the bus arrives and wait for the bus with other students. Japanese people constantly think of others. We don’t want to be late for anything. We also don’t want to have others wait for us.
I remember my school days. I always made my efforts to leave my house early so that I would not be late for school. I always wore a watch on my wrist and constantly checked the time to stay being punctual.
I get used to new concept of time. I like the way people react about time in a slow pace. I like the phase “take your time.” What a luxurious feeling in the phase of “I am not in a hurry and I can take my time”. Of course it won’t fit in to every situation, though. Sometimes it is good to take time.
♬ Any feedback? (^^♪
three wisdom 