In Japan, when office workers arrive in the morning, they fill up the parking lot from back to front. The first employees to arrive will use the parking spots furthest away from the entrance to the building. This is done out of courtesy, with the logic being that employees arriving later will be in a rush and could benefit from getting the prime parking spots right next to the front door.
It’s essentially the exact opposite of how we fill a parking lot here in good ol’ self-centered North America.
The closest thing to the Japanese principle I’ve seen here is at White Oaks, where they have a long row of parking spots right at the front door which are “reserved” for parents who have children below the age of five. Before I had my own kid, I would go there to play squash and would look at those spots with annoyance; like how dare they give away all the best spots to parents with young kids, what makes them so special?
Now, obviously, I’ve done a full 180. I think every parking lot should have a ton of these spots reserved for parents.
I still have an issue with these spaces though, which is that while these spots are “reserved” for parents with young kids, it’s not really policed in any meaningful way. On a fairly regular basis at White Oaks, I see people parking in the spots reserved for parents with young children, who are very clearly not parents with young children. They know there aren’t any real consequences to stealing that spot, so they just go ahead and park there.
And this, even more than their office parking system, highlights the truly incredible difference between Japanese and North American cultures.
Over there they have rules that people simply follow, not because they necessarily have to, but because it’s for the greater good of their community. Take “no smoking” areas for example. In Japan, the no smoking areas are marked by a little sign that says no smoking, but in most instances, there is no actual bylaw against it, and there is no enforcement, and there is no real penalty for smoking in a no smoking area. And yet, no one smokes in the no smoking area.
Contrast that with over here, where no smoking areas are strict little boxes defined by bylaws that cover a very specific area and there’s signs plastered all over the place warning about fines and yadda yadda, and yet, half the time there’s still some guy in there hacking a dart.
Because, for reasons I don’t really understand, there’s no sense of courtesy and no belief that we should follow rules that are designed to benefit the greater good.
During the pandemic, we had mask mandates to try and cut down the spread of the disease. We told people, you must wear a mask in these specific places. And the reaction was tons of people raging about it and refusing to wear a mask.
In Japan, they had no mask mandate whatsoever, people were never ever told they had to wear a mask, and yet everyone wore a mask in public and the country had one of the lowest infection rates on the planet.
But it’s a new year. Today is the first day of 2025. So here’s what I want anyone reading this to strive for in 2025: just be a bit more courteous. In every aspect of life.
You don’t like our current Prime Minister? That’s fine, but go ahead and take down that “F*CK TRUDEAU” flag you’ve got in the front window of your house.
Are you done with that Timmies coffee cup but there’s no garbage can around? Just bring it home instead of tossing it on the street.
Try to do whatever small thing you can this year in order to be a bit more courteous to your neighbours, to your environment, to your politicians, to whatever.
And if you’re the childless guy who I keep seeing parking in the White Oaks spots reserved for parents with young children, stop it, or I am going to key the heck outta your Tesla—because even courtesy has its limits.
James Culic will take his own advice and try to be more courteous in his columns this year. Find out how to speak politely at him at the bottom of this page, or send a kindly worded letter to the editor by clicking here.
