Japan is AMAZINGLY different. Many things we can learn from the Japanese.

1.    They love their jobs.
This, I already noticed when we were boarding one of the airplanes of Japan Airlines. Flight attendants were lined up, bowing and greeting us.  After the safe trip, they bowed again saying “Arigatou Gozaimashita!”. One Japanese flight attendant who gave us food and drink during the trip really stood out from the rest because her smile seems permanently drawn to her face. And mind you, it’s not a robotic smile but it’s a truly genuine smile. Of course, I cannot really say that deep in their hearts they love their jobs, only God knows that, but from all the Japanese people who assisted us in the hotels, restaurants, convenience stores, etc.,they all seem happy doing their own respective job no matter what it is. And they love their jobs not because they are being paid high salaries, but because they really put great importance and value into their work to the point that it is almost SACRED.

You couldn't ask for a better tour guide than Innaba-san

2.    They are highly disciplined people.
I came from the Philippines, so you may understand how astounded I was during my one week stay in Japan. It was a CHALLENGE for me to look for strayed trash.  I never saw anyone breaking the road rules. Everything is organized even their garbage! One friend who stayed in Japan for months warned me to segregate excellently all the contents of the garbage bag before giving it to the collector. Otherwise, they will ask you for a fine which is ridiculously high of course. How do they know it's yours? Well, they will run a fingerprint check to the contents of the garbage bag. I bet they will.

A typical street in Japan

3. For them, time is really gold.
"The Japanese are never late." This is one of the many things that were reiterated to us during the orientation before going to Japan. This is true in general except of course when there is an accident or when something happens. Needless to ask, we really need to be reminded about it especially me because I was almost 20 minutes late to arrive in the airport on the day of the departure. I got really scared because it was possible that my all-expense-paid trip to Japan will be gone just because I'm late. But thank goodness, the one from the travel agency is a Filipina so she already adjusted the time giving allowance to the dreaded "Filipino Time". All of our activities started on or before the set time except on our last dinner when my pasaway colleagues did not show their faces.
I also noticed that most of their innovations and inventions have so much to do with improving so that less time is required for a certain task. They measure everything in terms of time. They judge a product better over another if this product will save them more time. And they pay pretty much so they can save time.  That's why they have the Shinkansen Train  (Bullet Train). It's a  VERY EXPENSIVE train because of course it required a great investment too. But mind you, many Japanese use it and almost all of the people I saw there are in business suits.

My friends who stayed in Japan will be really jealous.

 4. We don't know what HONOR means. They do.
They say that the Filipinos are the most hospitable people but when I met and stayed with my Japanese host family, they are beyond hospitable. They  honored their guests and I was blessed to be one of them. As I stepped into the shoe area (where all people removed their shoes as it is forbidden to use them inside a Japanese house), a scrapbook with welcome greetings got my attention. They were very apologetic for they can't speak English that well (we used google translate to survive). But they gave us the BEST- from accommodation to food and recreational activities. I never experience horse back-riding and canoeing ever in my entire life but I did in Japan thanks to my host family.

The Sakamoto sisters welcoming us into their home.

I don't usually go horse back riding but when I do, I do it in Japan. Haha [where everything is way safer]

I also really admired the Japanese government -from the JENESYS 2.0 program of the Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE) to the local government of the Shizuoka prefecture, I and all the Filipino delegates were amazed at the same time, really sad when we thought of the Philippines in comparison to Japan. What Japan is, now, has been a result of the Japanese values combined with hard work and Kaizen. How we wish that all of our government officials and the Filipino youths can visit Japan and see what the Philippines can achieve if only we change for the better starting first within ourselves.