Workplace stress culture

Busy lifestyles in busy cities — pixelbuilder

"Are her hands shaking?" I thought to myself. The school director of the kids' program where I was teaching my second day of classes was rushing to inform me of the day's plan. I knew she was busy and stressed, but I couldn't believe my eyes — she really was shaking. She was talking fast, too, and I could only guess that she was as nervous as I was.

The more I thought about it, the more I started noticing that people here run a lot. They run to answer the phone, they run to get papers for their colleagues, they run from any given point A to any given point B during the workday. The stress culture here hangs thick in the air just like the dreadful humidity of Nagoya's skies.

Customer service is a priority in Japan — performancesolutions

A recurring lesson in Japan has been that appearance means everything. So, I suppose, when you appear to be rushing to fulfill everyone's needs, this gives the overall impression of efficiency and dedication to customer service, for which Japan is renowned. From what I have seen, everyone in the service industry is proud to do their job, because of the collective culture that gives the group more importance than the individual. The focus is nearly always on this collective "group," as far as I can tell, so it makes sense that employees rush to get things done properly, in the interests of the group.

However, I can't say that I aspire to this rushing, this insistence on running all the time. Thich Nhat Han says, in No Death, No Fear, that we should abandon the "running habit." He says that it is only by stopping, by being in the present moment, that we can appreciate what is around us, and that without stopping, we cannot appreciate our own being or the world around us. I have come to wholeheartedly agree with this philosophy, as a person who used to be so anxious I would lie awake at night and think about the past and the future.

The most important thing, as everyone tells us, is the present. But no one can teach us this lesson; it is one we must come upon by ourselves. I know that not everyone here rushes. But I hope that as I meet more new people, we can stay in the present together and appreciate that we are helping each other, without stress or worry. I think this is a philosophy many language students can also benefit from, as they are often too timid or worried about making mistakes to truly progress in language studies. Here's to a great many present moments that lead to success in some "present moment" down the road! :)