Fred and I were sitting on the bullet train, speeding
across Japan, going to yet another meeting. We glanced out
the window as usual, making sure that we couldn't see Mt.
Fuji. We knew it was there and we were 99.99% sure that we
would not be able to see it. Still, we looked just the
same. Indeed, obscured by clouds, pollution or both, we
couldn't see it. I balled up my trash from my 7-11 salmon
rice ball, three tangerines, and my Crunky chocolate bar,
stuffing it into the 7-11 bag and commented, "I do miss
trash cans."
I should have known better than to make such a comment
around Fred. After 9-11, all the garbage cans on the bullet
trains were taped shut and people had to take their garbage
off the train with them, or leave it on the train. Fred
immediately responded, "You know, trains in Japan were
always one place that you could be sure of finding a
garbage can. Where can we be sure of finding garbage cans?
Certainly not on the street and certainly not in parks. Did
I ever tell you about Mike and his garbage can inquiry?"
I nodded my head, but my nod was in vain. Fred started to
tell me all about Mike and his garbage, again, "Mike made
the foolish mistake of replying to one of those let's ask
the foreign residents for their feedback about life in
Japan inquiries. Mike was tired of taking his son to the
park, tired of not finding any garbage cans, and tired of
seeing all the trash scattered around. Mike thought that if
there were trash cans, people would use them. Mike believed
that trash cans were an obvious municipal service. So, he
replied to that effect. Would you believe that two guys
from city hall went all the way out to Mike's house to
explain why there were no trash cans in the park? They
explained that trash cans would be an added expense that
the city did not want to pay for, which was why they had
the take your garbage home with you approach. When Mike
pointed out that the take your garbage home approach was
not working and people were just dumping their trash in the
park, what do you think they said?"
I started to reply, but Fred cut me off, "They explained
that it was an added expense that the city did not want to
pay for, which was why they had the take your garbage home
with you approach. Yes, they said the exact same thing all
over again. So Mike is wondering why he ever gave feedback
in the first place. Even more, he is wondering why they
even asked for feedback."
Fred went on, but I just tuned him out, thinking that we
certainly did not have a meeting of the minds here. Mike
wanted garbage cans in the public parks. He thought this
was a basic municipal service. He thought providing
feedback might lead to improvement. Little did he know that
city hall was not really open to change. There was one way
to do things - the city hall way. City hall was open to
explaining what they were doing. They thought that
explaining how they did things would help people to
understand what was going on. They thought that
communication would help to reduce problems. They did not
have a clue that people providing feedback expected change.
Mike never gave any feedback again.
----------------------------------------------------
Aaron Language Services (http://www.aaronlanguage.com/ )
provides translation, proofreading, and online English
coaching to a primarily Japanese client base.
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