This is not my complaint, and also I do not believe everyone here in Emporia is like the person whom I met.

I need to explain what was happened to me here in Emporia. It was very shocking and surprising. I went to the office, which I will not mention by name, to submit some important paperwork. I wanted to get the paper back as soon as possible. The lady said “I am VERY BUSY, so it will take two weeks to give this paper back to you.” The staff in the office leave everyday right after 5:00 pm. When I went to the office after 5 p.m., NO ONE is there-it is all shut down for the day.

Many people in Japan say “Japanese people work for the company, however, people in the States work to live.” I have found this to be very true.

I used to work for the government of Tokyo before I came to America. In Japan, employees come to the office before 8:30 am and leave after 9:00 pm every single day throughout the year for most of their working life. My friend works for an IT company in Tokyo; she leaves her office at 12:00 pm every day to catch the last train to go home, and reaches her home after 1:00 am. She said “I will get sick soon if I keep working like this.” Her monthly salary reaches up to $10,000.

That is a common life style for the people who work in Tokyo. It is not always like this, however, but it happens more often than not, especially for the employees who work for a large corporation.

My Thai friend who worked for the Japan Airline said “Japanese people are not efficient enough. Who can concentrate on their business when they work such long hours? ” I feel she might be right.

I need to explain the reason why people in Japan work such long hours. Because of this bad economy, many companies have laid off a number of employees, but the amount of work has stayed the same, forcing the remaining employees to work harder. Because of this many Japanese people become depressed. Around 30,000 people in Japan commit suicide every year. I will talk more about it some other time.

I have grown up in such a country. That is the reason why I was so surprised and shocked, when the lady said “I am BUSY.” Americans work so few hours compared to the Japanese lifestyle, how can she say she is busy? Compared to the Japanese culture she has a lot of free time outside of work.

There are so many small stores in Emporia that are not open on weekends or in the evenings. The night time is best time to shop for the people who work during the day. People said many small stores closed down after Wall-Mart came. I can understand that, but the stores might be missing a good opportunities for more costumers if they stayed open later. It would be more accommodating to international citizens who are used to doing their shopping late at night once they are off work.

In the end this is just another interesting example of different cultures coming together.

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