The Ancient Japanese Art of Decency

by Brian Burgos (United States of America)

I didn't expect to find Japan

“Well, this is going to suck.” These were the words that I could not help but repeat over and over again when I realized I was leaving Japan to head back to New York City. My last day consisted of losing myself in Tokyos Tsukiji Outer Market, where it seems that around every corner there is another food stand waiting to blow your taste buds out of your head. Japan had spent the last 10 days showing me why travel bloggers and instagram pages dedicated to delicious eats have been raving about it for so long. Of course, like any passionate traveler, I had done months and months of research before my trip to Tokyo. I made sure to make a long list of restaurants and bars to visit. Like Bar High Five, where watching your bartender form a diamond out of a piece of ice will mesmerize you and be a highlight of your night out in Ginza. Of course there is the famous Golden Gai in Shinjuku, where you can spend your entire night navigating the over 200 miniature (and I mean MINIATURE) bars in the area until the early morning hours. However, the highlight of my trip would not be the amazing night life, or the ridiculously delicious food. Instead, it would be the famous discipline of Japans citizens. Coming from a city where it is not rare to see people peeing publicly, rats eating garbage, and amateur dancers (all on the same subway ride) it was a welcoming shock. The first thing you notice are the superbly clean streets and then the questionably low amount of garbage cans throughout the city. These two things should not go together, yet Japanese citizens have seemingly broken the animalistic urge to throw garbage in the streets. Then you will see the signs pointing to designated smoking areas, where you will find all smokers huddled up enjoying a nice smoke while not disturbing anybody else out in public. But to me, the most shocking of all was the deafening silence on the subways in Tokyo, where everybody respected each other enough to sit or stand quietly. The only thing controlling all these things were street signs that served as reminders for the people walking by, and everybody actually listened to them! These are seemingly small things, but they add up together to form what I believe to be an ideal society. One where everybody plays their part in making sure that day to day life can go on as smoothly and comfortably as possible. Don’t get me wrong, New York City is my first love. But the ancient Japanese art of decency will always hold a place in my heart