I met up with two Japanese friends today. Usually when I meet up with friends, at least one of us is late. It is very common for us to send and/or receive a message saying something like “Gonna be 20 minutes late… I missed my train… sorry!” But I guess this ruins everyone’s perception that in Japan everything and everyone is punctual. But almost all my female Japanese friends are never early.
I was asking the same friends earlier if this was common, and yeah they said, for women. For men, they were rarely early but they always arrived on time. Come to think of it, a lot of things here in Japan aren’t early, they are on time. Trains and buses arrive on time mostly and everything from deliveries and mail packages arrive within the time they said they would. On a related note, a logistics system called JIT (Just-In-Time) where the needed inventory is ordered and arrives at about the time the supplies dwindle down as was forecasted, making it just in time, is widely used in Japan. The Kanban System, which is closely related to JIT, was developed in Japan.
Given that things like cellphone train timetables are accurate and almost all published walking times on navigation maps are accurate, and even things like weather forecasts are included in both items, there really should be little reason for people not to make it on time… but then, we might belong to the 5% allowance given most working systems.
So if I’m late to meet a female friend and send a little message to let her know I won’t be scolded ? That’s really cool 😉 – I just said bye-bye to the cliché absolutely everybody is on time in Japan. Thanks for the information.
Hi Moka!
I always do it… hehehe… but if they’re older and a bit conservative, I’d be a bit embarrassed. Sometimes the trains get delayed and stuff, too, so sometimes it’s not my fault…
I see 🙂
🙂
The JIT logistics system is used worldwide; I’m not sure about which country it originated in, though. I’m just saying…
Thanks for commenting, billywest!
I may be confused but I thought it was either adapted from or based on or maybe just related to the Kanban System which is of Japanese origin. According to the Wikipedia link, though, they’re closely related, but the JIT System is widely used in Japan, hence my reference. I shall edit to make it clearer, though!
Thanks!
Filylna! This is just what I was looking for.