Decided to take a “crazy” trip with my wife.
We wanted to go on a trip this year and, considering we want to start a family soon, decided it’s probably going to be our last chance at going somewhere very adventurous for a while.
We couldn’t make a decision for a while - kept going back and forth between different countries, although after a lot of consideration we were just about ready to lock in Portugal.
Seemed like a great place with good food, people, affordable, etc.
Then one day she came home from work and said “let’s go somewhere farther away”. After all, we live in Canada and Europe isn’t too far of a trip.
So we decided to go to… drumroll please… Japan!
Only been here a day but it’s lived up to all of the hype we heard: clean, quiet, safe, very respectful people, incredible stores/shopping and, most importantly, delicious food.
Maybe you’ve been there and seen it before, but for me, the first trip on their subway system was eye opening.
The subways are very clean, the trains all leave on time and everyone is extremely polite and proper; they wait and board/leave the train in an organized fashion, and it’s apparently rude to talk loud when on board - so everyone sits/stands in a very quiet fashion.
Another thing that’s rude/unacceptable is tipping.
Not sure where you’re from, but in Canada, every business wants a tip now (including at the coffee shop/basically any store that sells anything). Whether they even “serve” you or not.
In Japan it’s offensive. People are extremely passionate about work and take pride in it, enough so that a tip is not required.
Kind of a good lesson for entrepreneurship: make sure you’re working on something you’re so excited about that the money is the cherry on top.
Lots to learn from Japan as I think they’re doing a lot right over here (with the exception of reproduction, apparently, as their population is facing a decline…).
Stay tuned for more and have an awesome week,
- Josh Schachnow
Canadian immigration lawyer, CEO at Visto.ai
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