It's Not Me. It's You.

Can we be totally honest for a moment? In North America we’re kind of up our own asses. No?

Given the option, we’ll usually make it about us. We’re generally happiest when . . .well, when we are happiest. We’re enamoured by the idea self improvement, wooed by winning, thrilled to talk about ourselves. I know that’s a big, fat blanket statement, but you’ve got to admit it’s more than a bit true. Yes?

One of the most striking things about travelling Japan is the degree to which it seems to be so much less about the ‘me’ and more about the ‘you’ (or at the very least, the ‘us’). There’s a gentleness, a thoughtfulness, a mildness that can only come from putting the mego (may have just made that up) on the back burner. This wonderfully foreign approach manifests itself in a million mild behaviours.

It’s the bowing, the well-dressed white-gloved taxi drivers, the absence of litter, the impeccable packaging of everything, the time taken to deliver service that’s rewarded by a smile instead of a juicy tip. It’s not about growing a business as fast as possible to make the owner, the me, rich and famous. It’s slowly, carefully, refining a business for centuries by relentlessly focusing on quality and the experience of the customer, the you—even if that means just one shop location when there could be twenty or just six restaurant seats when there could be sixty.

I'm not so naive as to think the Japanese don't give a damn about personal success. Nor do I assume every single gesture is from the heart. But the Japanese do seem to be motivated and rewarded by different things. And they certainly seem to approach the world with a refreshing selflessness.