Following the rules

Japan is often a land of paradoxes. It is in many ways very efficient. Things run smoothly; trains run on time: everything is done well and in an orderly fashion. Yet in other ways it can be very inefficient, to our eyes anyway. Recently we have had two cases (in different sports clubs) where we hit up against what might be called the 'following the rules' way of thinking. There are often detailed procedures for even the simplest thing. Yet at times these rules seem to fly in the face of common sense. Or so much time is spent following all the procedures that it seems - to us - a rather inefficient way of getting things done. Sometimes there can be a lack of flexibility (or even freedom) to depart from 'the way something should be done'. One of our recent cases concerned Alistair receiving a badge for moving up one rank in swimming. He passed the test and was given his test sheet and a badge by the coach. Then the sheet and the badge were taken back and the test results whitened out. Why? Because it was apparently necessary to have several weeks of practice before being entitled to receive the badge. But he was already at the required standard and the coach had so graded him and awarded the badge. But the 'rules' said it should not be done. There was no freedom to apply what we might feel would be common sense to the situation. Nor was there any apparent freedom to depart from the 'must-be-adhered-to' procedures. It can be easy to get frustrated with such situations. But it served as a reminder to reflect on what someone said to us in our early days in Japan - it's not wrong, just different. Very true. We live in a different culture with a different way of thinking and there are many times where we just need to go with the flow. Maybe it's just the lawyer in us which likes to argue the case though when it seems patently lacking in common sense!