mugiko

=Rules of Punctuality=

<**Introduction**> In this report, I will discuss the topic of punctuality. In my opinion, rules of punctuality are important when people meet. However there are varieties that apply according to the situation a person in. In addition, there are different relative to the countries, customs, places and the each person. Why the rules of punctuality are important? It is because nobody wants to wait or keep waiting other person for a long time. When people meet, we have to decide where we are going to meet and what time we are going to meet. It prevents us from misunderstanding. Why the rules of punctuality are a big problem in the world? It is because they are different from one country. Problems often happen when people from other countries get together in one place since each country seems to have a different punctuality.

This summer, something happened that made me interested in this topic. I met students from Los Angeles who were spending their summer vacation by studying Japanese at a Language school. The last day, I saw them off at the station. Some of them missed their train because they went to the station as if they were in their home country. They did not know that Japanese trains are punctual almost all the time.

Japan is a country where punctual it is very important. We are often told,” Go to the place before the meeting time in order to start on time.” and “be on time.” Why do Japanese want to be punctual? It comes from the upbringing of Japanese. There is a common understanding among Japanese, to get to the place five minutes before the starts. Everyone follow the rule and usually gets to the place at least five minutes. Furthermore, even on informal occasions, Japanese usually arrive on meet friends before five minutes. If you are late, some people may think you do not want to meet the person. In this way, a delay can often be break off the relationship.
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According to BBC News article (No Date), there is a manner in Japan. One of the rules is “Be punctual. Being late is rude – no long ting!” Japan is a punctual country but there are some exceptions. If you visit a house, you would better to go three to five minutes late at a scheduled time.

In 2005, there was a commuter train accident in Japan which was partly caused by the pressure to be on time. To make up for a ninety-second delay, the twenty-three years old train engineer increased the speed of the train and crashed it into a nine-story high apartment building. According to a news article of Asahi Shimbun (2006), on the other hand, according to New York, train engineer five minutes late from the last station is a considered delay for trains. In Britain, more than four minutes is regarded as a delay on rush hour trains. Furthermore, in Italy, it is said that five to fifteen minutes is not a delay not only the train engineer but also Japanese society is responsible. A significant point is how strict and inflexible the Japanese are about time.

What happens when a teacher is late for class in Japan? How do students feel about it and what do they do while waiting for the teacher? For example, when I took examinations at my college, students had to be in the classroom five minutes before the examination started. Teachers were careful to start on time. One teacher even has a class rule not to enter her class after the class has started.

As I have shown, Japan has high value on punctuality and people make sure they　know what time it is anywhere they are. For instance, there is clock on the television screen for some broadcasts. There are two watches on a cell phone; on a main display and a small display. Most of the classrooms have a clock on the wall. There are in a department store we can know the time we purchased something by looking at the receipt. In Japan, we can find huge clocks on tall towers and on station building fronts. In Sapporo, we can find huge clocks at the front of the Sapporo Station building and TV tower on Odori. I took a survey of “Rules of Your Punctuality” (SurveyMonkey.com, 2006). Before I ask questions about the punctuality, I asked gender, age, country and which area do you live, urban or rural. Question number 5 to number 10 is about punctuality. Choose the answers below question number 5, 6, 8 to 10. 1. At least five minutes to ten minutes before it starts 2. At a scheduled time 3. Up to thirty minutes late 4. Up to 60 minutes late 5. More than 60 minutes late Question number 5: At school: when do you arrive at your classroom? Question number 6: At work: when do you arrive at your specific work station ready to start work? Question number 7: When meeting a person specified time and place who is older than you and outside your family or your circle of friends, when do you arrive? Ex) a teacher, a business person, a student older than you Choose the answers below. 1. At least five minutes before it starts 2. At a scheduled time 3. Up to thirty minutes late 4. Up to 60 minutes late 5. More than 60 minutes late Question number 8: Meeting closer person ex) friend, family, boyfriend or girl friend Question number 9: On formal occasions ex) meeting, party Question number 10: On informal occasions ex) birthday party, drinking party, clubbing.
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(See Appendix for a table of results of this survey.)

Thirty one people answered this survey but five people did not answer the question after number 5. I did not use the incomplete survey question number 5 to 10. Considering their age, some of the respondents perhaps are not students.

The following discussion is based on the survey results. First, looking at responses of the Canadian the man, they are on time for classes and work. They go before it starts. None of female in Canada or the people in the United States is late for classes, either. Some of them did not answer question number 6, because they are not working now. Some students may have a job on their summer vacation, however. For the Japanese as well, they are in Japan is always punctual or early for school and work. They are never late. When they meet older people, according to the survey, no one goes late. This was an unexpected answer for me. Everybody clearly shows respect for older people by being on time. Women in Canada are not late when they meet a close person. However, comparing meeting an older person and a close person, some people are late when meeting a close person. Men in Canada do not go to late formal occasions.

The results from survey show that Canadian men are quite punctual. They are not late except for informal occasions. As for women in Canada, most of them arrive on time except formal and informal occasions. As far as in Japan, according to Nihon Keizai Shimbun (2006) office ladies set their watches early 2.7 minutes. Fifty two percent of the women set their watches earlier than the exact time. 33 percent of men set their watch earlier. Believe it or not, one percent of business people set their watches late than the current exact time. Most of business men 63 percent in the metropolitan area of Tokyo set their watches to the exact time.
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Developed countries tend to have a high value on being do not punctuality and developing countries are not punctual for time. People in developed countries work very hard. They devote a lot of time for their jobs. On the other hand, people in developing countries not spend as time for working as those who live in developed countries. One of the reasons is that they can not earn money as those who live in the developed countries. In addition, people who live in big cities are usually moving fast. People who live in the countries usually move slowly. According to Robert Levine’s opinion (2002), in Brazil, every watch shows a different time. Some watches perhaps show the exact time. Developing countries are poor in material and time management. The poverty of time causes the lack of materials. Kaushik Basu and Jorgen W. Weibull (2002) said that economists are wondering why people are content using clocks and watches that do not function properly or are inaccurate.
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People in Africa use daylight rather than the time which the clock shows. According to BBC News article (2003), Africans have their own time, quite different from the Western time. Nunya Gadegbeku said. Africans exist in time, not for time. Life is not defined by seconds and minutes. Values are different from the so-called developed world, and time is not money for them. In fact, who are punctual maybe mocked at by others. Even when dating a friend instance, it is common to be late by thirty minutes, an hour or even more.” Nobody really even if they are kept waiting for an hour or two. They just smile and make the best of the situation.
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My Mexican friend another example of is one day we had a welcoming party which held by the university to which she was expected to attend. I was waiting for her but she did not come. I met her after the party finished. As soon as she found me, she asked me “Is it already finished?” I said “Yes, because it started from two hours ago.” She said “Really?” She looked disappointed. At that time, I could not believe her because it was not an informal party of friends. It was natural for me to arrive at the formal party I was expected to attend.

When I was in Canada, some classes were not started on time. One of the classes always started five minutes late. First, I thought that the teacher did not like teaching and that the class, they were not but loved students were too lazy and did not want to study. These reasons might have been true, but for the others probably not big deal. The classes consisted of students from all over the world, and most were on time or less than five minutes late. Sometimes, a Mexican student did not return to the class after the break time. When he was late, he just said to the teacher,”Oh, sorry.”, and he did not seem to feel any pressure.

Robert Levine (2002) mentioned in his book, people in Mexico cannot earn much income so that people do not work hard; they are late for job, As in Africa do not deliver things punctually, and they do not work over time. Similarity, time is not money in Brazil. Brazilians put a high-valued on relationship more than punctuality. In the United States, people in the North east tend to be the most punctual with people in the west tending to being late. According to Adjusting to U.S. Social Life (1997-98), there are about punctuality, “Americans always seem to be going somewhere and rushing to get there on time. This is largely because of the enormous demands on their time, such as work-related responsibilities, family, social activities and obligations. Most Americans are very time-conscious, and they will want and expect you to arrive “on time” at appointments, whether formal or informal. Persons who arrive more than fifteen minutes after a scheduled meeting time are expected to offer an apology and, often, an expectation of why they were late.” This article also mentions that you are not to be late for formal events.

Rules of punctuality are different according to the situations persons of the people. We cannot say exactly who is punctual. Japanese think that Africans are not punctual because they are too late likewise Africans think that Japanese are not punctual because they are too early. We can divide people into two groups by their view of time. One keeps time by what the clock shows and the other keeps their own time which is not related to the time that clock shows. Both punctualities have good points and bad points. Japanese events always start at the exact time but they tend to be too punctual, which in one case a train disaster. In contrast, Africans are not sure for the exact time but they afford the time. We need flexibility for time to have a comfortable relationship. There is an example from the report written by Kaushik Basu and Jorgen W. Weibull (2002). It said that “A” person who is late is usually seen as being is unpunctual. However, if a person shows up thirty minutes late, is he or she truly unpunctual? Being thirty minutes late is his or her own style of punctuality. When know that person is always late thirty minutes, can ask him or her to arrive thirty minutes before and we can ask others to go thirty minutes later. If we could set the time for each person, we can take in to account the person’s habit and get together on the intended time. We cannot say that in time or being late is always good because both of lifestyles have both good and bad points. Punctuality is a habit of the individual. According to //Anata ha Doredake Matemasuka// (2002), Levine.R said that life is different from culture, social class region, history and each person. In addition, punctuality is one of our personal habits. How we live is how to survive. The meaning of living is not only for social life but also for economic progress and growth.
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Asahi Shimbun (2006), Retrieved September 14, 2006 from http://www2.asahi.com/special/050425/TKY200505010176.html Astro-Bio (2005), Retrieved September 28, 2006 from http://www.astro-bio.com/id/manner/manner0503.html BBC News (2003), Retrieved October 12, 2006 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3154212.stm BBC News (2003), Retrieved October 12, 2006 from　http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3211923.stm BBC News (No Date), Retrieved October 12, 2006 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/events/japan/etiquette.shtml Kaushik Basu and Jorgen W. Weibull (2002), Retrieved October 16, 2006 from http://www.naringslivsforkning.se/wfiles/wp/wp582.pdf Nihon Keizai Shimbun (2006), Retrieved October 6, 2006 from http://telecom.nikkei.co.jp/nt21/service/CMN1000/ATCD242?cid=HKDK2006/ Levine.R (2002) //Anata ha Doredake Matemasuka//, Tokyo: Soshisha Seiko, Toki no Kinembi Homepage (2004), Retrieved September 28, 2006 from http://www.seiko.co.jp/nihongo/shinchaku_joho/kinenbi/kinenbi2004/2.html SurveyMonkey.com (2006) Retrieved November 16, 2006 from http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=599972747300 SurveyMonkey.com (2006) Retrieved November 16, 2006 from http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=182442790890 The University of Akron, Adjusting to U.S. Social Life (1997-98) Retrieved October 12, 2006 from http://www3.uakron.edu/oip/handbook/etiquet.htm
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