Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Details for Gods
Japanese hospitality is famous for its attention to detail. Visiting guests are wowed by free toiletries tea and even a change of clothes in Japanese hotel rooms, the offer of free chopsticks when purchasing take-away food, the pouring of sake till it flows out of the glass, cabbies that open doors for their passengers, bags for umbrellas at the entrance to stores, and even the hooks for bags next to Japanese ATMs and toilets. Japanese hosts, it is claimed, read the minds of their guests to offer them more than they even knew that they wanted.
The kindness of Japanese hosts is wonderful when it is appreciated, but sometimes foreign guests may wish to avoid some of this attention to detail. Customers do not always want wrapping nor till-receipts. Sometimes they may feel embarrassed to put their trash into their host’s hands. Customers, who are unaccustomed to the practice, may not enjoy their host talking in a high pitched voice, nor even being offered a chair to sit down. All the same, these details are often difficult to avoid because, rather than reading their guests minds, Japanese hospitality providers are often just following a preset script. In Japan it is often said that “the customer is God”, and this is often true, but in other countries Gods are spoken to and their commandments obeyed, rather than being the recipients of ritual.
This blog represents the opinions of the author, Timothy Takemoto, and not the opinions of his employer.