Many Japanese consider Japan to be different from the rest of the world. Even those who have never been outside of Japan. They believe that Japan’s soil has unique humidity, Japan’s snow is not suitable for foreign skis, Japan’s gangsters are less dangerous than the odd pickpocket abroad, Japan’s language is the most difficult to learn, abroad is very dangerous, there is no translation for wabi sabi…
Most foreigners wholeheartedly agree on finding Japan different. When they arrive they think their airplane inadvertently landed on a different planet. But then we all know that many things are exactly same as at home. Let’s be honest. And mainly for reasons of political correctness we prefer to use the word different over better and worse. Could something as utterly ordinary as a bus stop be different then?
Apparently it can!
At home in Europe our bus shelters have their supports somewhere in the side walk and their open side towards the street. In Japan bus shelters are positioned 180 degrees opposite.
Differences: the side walk is kept free of obstacles, the sign pole of the bus stop can be read under the shelter, a small fence provides extra safety and the bus can stop with its front door on exactly the right spot. Imagine the fence would be a nice glass panel. It would protect us from a spray of dirty rainwater from the gutter when the bus comes to a halt.
I’d surely prefer the word better over different in this case.
