Things That I Like About Japan

Hi, it’s Derek from Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi. In my last blog, What I Like About Japanese People, I talked about things I liked about Japanese people. In this blog post, I will talk about other things that I like about Japan. Let’s get started!

Lost & Found

If you lose something here, you have a good chance of getting it back! At a young age, Japanese are taught to hand in items that they find. So at train stations, they are turned in at lost and found centers. Unclaimed items are eventually turned over to the police. Many found items are brought directly to the police at police boxes called koban. I once lost my smart phone in Tsukaguchi, Amagasaki! With the help of my wife, I contacted the police in the area where I’d lost it. They had it and I was able to pick it up at a police box in Tsukaguchi the same day! It’s quite amazing! 

Low Crime Rate

Something I really like about Japan is that Japan has a lower crime rate compared to some other places in the world. For example, there is less stealing here. In shops like coffee shops, it is commonplace to see people leaving personal items on tables or chairs to save them while they are ordering. That is quite special! You can read a blog post I wrote on this by clicking here.

Japanese Lessons

Some cities offer free or virtually free Japanese lessons by volunteers for foreigners. I took Japanese lessons for years in Amagasaki with volunteers through an Amagasaki volunteer association. It charged a small sum of 1,000 yen a month and rented a room in a public building where the volunteer teachers taught me and many other foreigners Japanese, one-to-one, for 90 minutes once a week. I really appreciated their kindness. You can view information on Japanese classes in Hyogo Prefecture by clicking here.

Rich Traditional Culture

Japan has a rich traditional culture. There are many traditional Japanese crafts enjoyed by the Japanese which foreigners living here can experience. Calligraphy, flower arranging, origami and the Japanese tea ceremony are just some of them. I have been fortunate enough to experience many of them as I will write about below.

Japanese Tea Ceremony 

I had the opportunity to watch a Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi student perform the Japanese tea ceremony at Tomatsu Shrine in Tsukaguchi, Amagasaki. The Japanese tea ceremony was a hobby of his and he even had a license to teach it. You can see some photos on a Japanese blog post by clicking here.

Japanese Culture Workshop Day at Kansai University

I have had the opportunity to try many Japanese crafts at an annual event held by Kansai University and a volunteer association in Osaka twice. It was fun. You can read my blog on my first time there by clicking here! And you can read a blog post on my second time there by clicking here.

Stay tuned for more things that I like about Japan in my next blog post! Thank you for reading!

Derek

Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi

https://smithweb.co.jp/tsukaguchi