Japan's Cultural Code Words, 「辛抱」, 英語タイトル You must have patience!の項にこんな事が書かれていました。
Westerners have been taught to view life as consisting of a precise number of years, months, days, and hours for each individual--a limited amount of time that is not going to be repeated and should therefore not be wasted. In recent times, especially after the Industrial Revolution, Westerners came to believe that not using time in some profitable or productive enterprise was sinful. We eventually became so time conscious that we began measuring time and our activities in minutes and seconds.
The Japanese, on the other hand, were traditionally conditioned to believe that life was more-or-less a circle, with one reincarnation after another, until one reached a state of grace in which rebirth was no longer necessary and one entered into nirvana. Time was therefore a relative thing. If a task was not completed in this lifetime, there would be another chance.
著者のDe Mente氏のこの認識は偏見と感じます。交通機関の時間の遵守は日本が誇れるものの一つだと思いますが、長年海外のメーカーと付き合った経験では、製品の納期の遅延はほとんど日常茶飯事で、日本の客に年がら年中叱られました。私の経験は電子機器メーカーとの取引だけですが、恐らく他の業界でも納期の遅延は日本のメーカーより多くあると想像します。何故なら、遅延の理由として、担当者が休暇を取ったとか、日本では客には言えない事でも平気に言い訳の材料にします。
Westerners have been taught to view life as consisting of a precise number of years, months, days, and hours for each individual--a limited amount of time that is not going to be repeated and should therefore not be wasted. In recent times, especially after the Industrial Revolution, Westerners came to believe that not using time in some profitable or productive enterprise was sinful. We eventually became so time conscious that we began measuring time and our activities in minutes and seconds.
The Japanese, on the other hand, were traditionally conditioned to believe that life was more-or-less a circle, with one reincarnation after another, until one reached a state of grace in which rebirth was no longer necessary and one entered into nirvana. Time was therefore a relative thing. If a task was not completed in this lifetime, there would be another chance.
著者のDe Mente氏のこの認識は偏見と感じます。交通機関の時間の遵守は日本が誇れるものの一つだと思いますが、長年海外のメーカーと付き合った経験では、製品の納期の遅延はほとんど日常茶飯事で、日本の客に年がら年中叱られました。私の経験は電子機器メーカーとの取引だけですが、恐らく他の業界でも納期の遅延は日本のメーカーより多くあると想像します。何故なら、遅延の理由として、担当者が休暇を取ったとか、日本では客には言えない事でも平気に言い訳の材料にします。
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