A foreigner on a recent business trip to Japan suddenly thought: “The integrity of Japanese people is said to be the highest in the world today. I’ve got to try to find out how high it is.”
He placed 200 yen of coins on a public bench and waited for the result. The 200 yen turned into 300 yen. Looking at the extra 100 yen, the foreigner who did the test was dumbfounded. He posted the topic on the Internet to ask for an explanation: “Did the coins give birth to a coin?”
The post attracted many replies. Many netizens talked about their experiences in Japan.
A netizen said: “Once, I was about to take the train home after buying Christmas gifts. I accidentally left the bag on a seat at the station, so I had to return the way I came. After 25 minutes, I returned and found the bag was still in the same place.”
Another netizen said: “I agree with you. My wife also recovered lost things intact that she had forgotten. As for me, I spent two years in a Japanese graduate school and saw someone’s laptop left in place for 24 hours, but no one tried to steal it during that time.”
Ginza is the busiest district in Japan, with a huge flow of people every day. Someone said that when he came to the country for work, he placed his US$25,000 Hasselblad camera in Ginza and watched it from 300 meters away to see what would happen. No one ever touched it.
Some people may say that 200 yen is very little money. No one will take advantage of that small amount.
Some netizens said: “One time, I left my wallet containing 100,000 yen on the train, and it came back in 8 hours.”
Another netizen commented: “Don’t worry if you accidentally lose something in Japan. Whether it is valuable or not, the lost item will be placed in the same place or nearby.”
As the ancient Chinese said, the essential thing for a moral society is “not to have to close one’s door at night and not to have to pick up things left on the road.” This statement is simple, but making it a national consensus is difficult. How do the Japanese do it?
Japan’s integrity stems from its legal system
Is it because the people here are naturally better than people elsewhere? No, the high integrity of the people is largely due to the country’s perfect legal system, which has constrained the people’s behavior over a long period. When habits become natural, they slowly create the country’s social environment.
Taking possession of lost or floating objects is a crime that is punishable by up to one year of imprisonment and a fine of up to 100,000 yen under the crime of “misappropriation of lost or floating objects.”
Of course, if you find a wallet and hand it to the police, and if the owner does not claim the wallet within three months, the wallet will be returned to the person who found it; if the owner claims the wallet within three months, the person who found the wallet has the right to ask the owner for 5-20 percent of the reward.
Japan is not only a society that generally recognizes the value of integrity, but it’s also a society with the virtues of humility and tolerance.
A friend said he once stepped on a girl’s foot in Japan. When he was about to apologize, the girl bowed her head and told him: “I am sorry!” He was shocked. “It was my fault, but the girl apologized to me instead!”
Later, he realized this kind of thing is common among Japanese. The streets and subways are so quiet that it is unimaginable to see people fight for a seat or argue in the street.
The civilization of human society is inseparable from the restraints of the law. When civilization reaches a certain level, people’s social behavior naturally rises to self-restraint based on moral criteria. Perhaps this is why the Japanese people’s integrity has surprised visitor’s repeatedly.
