If there’s a Golden Rule to Japanese society, it’s this: don’t cause meiwaku (may-wah-ku), meaning inconvenience or bother, to others. Whether it’s trying to keep from making too much noise and annoying your neighbors or avoiding using a cell phone on a crowded train, most Japanese do strive to avoid bothering others, which is something I really like about the country. Sometimes, of course, it can be difficult to keep from causing inconvenience, a fact I learned when I took the overnight bus to Aomori. As soon as the bus pulled out, the lights were switched off completely, and to my amazement everyone in the bus seemed to curl up and go to sleep. I certainly didn’t want to destroy the wa around me by switching on my little light and getting some work done on my Macbook, but I wasn’t about to go to sleep that early.
You’ve never had stress until you tried to make no sound and emit no light for 12 hours.
