Ohayou Gozaimasu!
Today, when going to school in the morning, I was greeted with a very energetic “Good Morning” from the old man who attends the campus’ front entrance. Complete with a pseudo military salute.
This was actually nothing really new: This particular gentleman has been working on that entrance for two months now. But it always bring a smile to my face when I’m greeted by him like that.
Here in japan, in some small neighbourhoods and elementary schools you can see posters advising kids to “greet people warmly when on the street!”. I can totaly agree with that. When I was 14, there was this girl in the english language school who would always smile at me when we saw each other, though we never exchanged a single word. In college, the janitor and secretary never failed to greet me when we met, even when we had nothing to talk about at the moment, Although these may seem like minor things, my day has often changed for the better at these salutes, and I try to spread out the love myself whenever I can - but try it yourself! It is harder than it seems.
December 14th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
Quem eh essa menina, que desde os 14 anos vc lembra dela e nunca falou um “A”????????????????????
E QUE HISTORIA EH ESSA DE “SPREAD OUT THE LOVE MYSELF”???
Ta achando que eh assim eh??
Nao me respeita mais nao eh?
Ta achando que…..
….
=)
Bom dia menino. Nao posso te encontrar no portao da sua escola, mas espero que quando te ligo pra te acordar e te dou bom dia, tbm melhore seus dias =)
love u =*
December 15th, 2006 at 9:29 am
This person at the gate is quite nice. I talk to him every time I come to Kashiwa campus.
It sure is harder than it seems. As for our country, we are supposed to smile with those we make eye contact on the street, especially in the mornings.This still holds, at least in countryside, and I am from a village.
It was a real problem when I started studying in Singapore, where smiles are quite rare (if you are white-skinned, you might get a few more smiles though :-p). People in offices were shocked to see me smile, some on the street were surprised, frowning, etc, etc :-p. The lady who was cleaning the floor of the dormitory was avoiding the smile, and I kept smiling until she became a good friend (I had more young blood in action at the time).
In Japan, things were better as I started somewhere in Kansai. Of course, people are a bit more strained around here.