I don’t know who originally wrote this list, but I found it interesting. I have been to Japan a couple of times and it is a country easy to rave about, especially when you want excellent food, customer service, beautiful scenery, and great people. Since the big earthquake Japan is really struggling, and yet, as this list indicates, she does not lose her composure.

If you want to understand where all this ‘national DNA’ or ‘cultural training’ came from, I can recommend a great book to read, called “BUSHIDO: The Soul of Japan” by Nitobe Inazo. This is an old book, first published in 1905, as a way for the author to try to teach the visiting foreigners and businessmen about why the Japanese think and act the way they do. It’s not a light read, but if you are interested in the culture, then it’s a must-read.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the 10 things the world can learn from Japan:

1. THE CALM:
Not a single visual of chest-beating or wild grief. Sorrow itself
has been elevated.

2. THE DIGNITY:
Disciplined queues for water and groceries. Not a rough
word or a crude gesture.

3. THE ABILITY:
The incredible architects, for instance. Buildings swayed but
didn’t fall.

4. THE GRACE:
People bought only what they needed for the present, so
everybody could get something.

5. THE ORDER:
No looting in shops. No honking and no overtaking on the
roads. Just understanding.

6. THE SACRIFICE:
Fifty workers stayed back to pump seawater in the N-
reactors. How will they ever be repaid?

7. THE TENDERNESS:
Restaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM is left alone. The
strong cared for the weak.

8. THE TRAINING:
The old and the children, everyone knew exactly what to do.
And they did just that.

9. THE MEDIA:
They showed magnificent restraint in the bulletins. No silly
reporters. Only calm reportage.

10. THE CONSCIENCE:
When the power went off in a store, people put things back
on the shelves and left quietly. That’s Japan.