There are two types of people who listen to music in public: those who wear headphones and those who … are a word I probably can’t use here. But while I welcome his policy to fine “headphone dodgers”, I’m not convinced it will solve the problem. This behaviour isn’t only a nuisance, but a grave indicator of a deeper societal issue: the erosion of empathy.
You can’t legislate civic pride into an individualistic culture where feelings of social disconnection are widespread. From 2019 to 2021 I lived in Japan, where keeping the peace is paramount and you can be reprimanded just for talking on the bus. When I returned to England, I felt shock and shame at how we treat one another and our public spaces.
We watch our dogs defecate in the street and walk away. We use public bathrooms as if we’re feral two-year-olds. We inflict the soundtrack of our mindless social-media scrolling on an entire train carriage.
Japanese society is not without its flaws; I often chafed at the level of deference I witnessed. But living there also highlighted to me just how selfish we can be in Britain. Last week, I saw someone had smeared dog poo into the communal carpeted entrance of their own block of flats.
Some on the far right love to cast other cultures as primitive, but I think we need to look at ourselves. We could learn from Japan. As a broadly collectivist society, it favours social harmony and group responsibility.
One guiding principle is meiwaku wo kakenai: the idea that you should avoid inconveniencing others. I worked in Japanese state schools and was astonished when students as young as five diligently began stacking chairs and clearing apparatus as sports day wrapped up. Additionally, Japanese schools don’t completely rely on cleaners: the students sweep the halls, wipe down desks, empty bins and even disinfect and scrub the bathrooms.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
