I work with a Japanese woman she's about 30 years-old and has been here in Canada for at least ten years (a guess) and I can confirm that she is polite and courteous to the extreme.
It's embarrassing to see the contrast of some of my fellow Canadian co-workers' manners they eat with their mouths open, talk with food in their mouth, suck their teeth, turn up the TV in the break room with others in there just because they want to watch TV, walk in front of elderly people - so infuriatingly self-centered.
Customers at work keep asking her about Japan and if her family was injured and she politely answers they're OK but day after day people keep asking as if they think they are the first to think to ask her the obvious instead of having some common sense and keep their mouths shut.
People think of Canadians as polite but Japan certainly holds the top spot for manners of all nations on this planet if all Japanese people are like my co-worker friend.
If we ever had a disaster here I know of at least one person who won't be opportunistic and rob me when I'm down.
There are disadvantages and advantages to politeness. A polite society tends to be more disconnected, less intimate and harder to make friends with in vs. a more intimate, but possibly a bit more "rude" society too:
I agree on the politeness observation; I've been all over the world, but Japan is the only place where an employee at a Starbucks coffee kiosk thanked me three times for purchasing an espresso.
It's embarrassing to see the contrast of some of my fellow Canadian co-workers' manners they eat with their mouths open, talk with food in their mouth, suck their teeth, turn up the TV in the break room with others in there just because they want to watch TV, walk in front of elderly people - so infuriatingly self-centered.
Customers at work keep asking her about Japan and if her family was injured and she politely answers they're OK but day after day people keep asking as if they think they are the first to think to ask her the obvious instead of having some common sense and keep their mouths shut.
People think of Canadians as polite but Japan certainly holds the top spot for manners of all nations on this planet if all Japanese people are like my co-worker friend.
If we ever had a disaster here I know of at least one person who won't be opportunistic and rob me when I'm down.