genuine smiles
People here smile a lot. Its a cultural thing, kind of like a uniform, part of the social contract here. With so many people crammed together, one unhappy person can bring down everyone around them with unpleasant results. It is also a defense mechanism of sorts. That smile is a barrier between what theyre really feeling and everyone else. No one wants the entire neighborhood knowing their business. You can tell a work smile by looking into their eyes the smile doesnt make it all of the way there. I always wonder what they’re really thinking. Sometimes, though, when no one is looking, they really smile. Like a voyeur, I like to catch those a woman in the park playing with her baby, a man appreciating a good cup of coffee, school children horsing around, an old woman picking beautiful flowers. I sneak up on the construction workers and police officers, before they can plaster on their work faces, and flash them a big olesmile I get a real out out of them before they realize what they are doing.
The Japanese culture, even more than the other Asian societies, seems to put a great value on having everything appear in order and just so. Not unlike our own society of the ’50’s, now that I think of it. There is much to be said for maintaining a happy exterior, I think it at least makes one try to see the good in everything. Thanks for sharing your observations:^) Tom-
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i work with children…total honesty about how they feel about themselves and about those around them. i wonder at what age this gets lost, and is it the same for japanese children?
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something to be said for “social smiling” Beats the glares one usually encounters in the subways in NYC.
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