Short Takes - Living on Tokyo Time

1.      The examples that Butler gave are very effective to support her statement. Butler said that Japanese people are unbelievably busy by saying they work ten hours a day, and often come in even on days off. Also, the Japanese rarely take a vacation of more than three of four days. A straight week is a hedonistic luxury. Students in Japan have less than a month for summer vacation, and they have all kinds of assignments to do.

2.      Butler raised a question that why doesn’t this cradle-grave, manic scheduling bother the Japanese people. The answer to this question is that the Japanese people grow up with a sense of time as a communal resource, like the company motor pool.

3.      The Japanese attitude toward time is that time is a communal resource, like the company motor pool. However, the American toward time is that time belongs to individuals.

4.      I think Butler prefers the Japanese attitude. Because in the last paragraph she said all the convenience of life and the richness of culture are invaluable that she would not trade for a lifetime of free hours.

5.      She pointed out that most of the Americans take it for granted that their spare hours are none of their teachers’ or bosses’ business.