I'm sure that "trust" is important to anybody anywhere. But its importance in Japan is probably exceptional. It seems that the trust of Japanese people is built by the act how much you serve before your customers (or even people in relationships) would tell what they want you to do. And if you didn't do what you said you would, that would be the end of the relationship - People switch to another and won't come back. Because there are so many competitors that make high quality products in Japan, we don't need to give in when the service is not met our demands. Yes, we are demanding people.

Behind their mysterious smile on their faces, sometimes this demand can be seen as a great expectation. For example, when you go the some Japanese major department stores, you will probably be surprised that the sales people are trained to serve quite well - the way they speak, how they show the goods, how they wrap the goods, how they give the change back, how they show the directions. Every manner they act makes you feel that you are a very important customer. In the Japanese society, politeness counts a lot.

Some people may think that you don't want to live in Japan because it sounds very difficult to keep up good relationships with Japanese people. But this demand lets us consider what I would want to get from others if I were in somebody else's position. And this consideration makes our relationships smoother.

If you are Japanese who have never lived in abroad yet complain about your own culture, I would like you to know how valuable it is. You would not be able to see it quite well unless you left Japan.