In every situation Japanese appear to have one correct way to do something. It shows up for example in the exchange of business cards. In Japanese daily life one can observe hundreds of things that are trained hard so that they would be performed in the right way. Other methods that can be viable are not considered eagerly but omitted easily.
Related to that, here is what happened last week at work:
I was stapling two paper sheets together. On a task so basic and easy it did not occur to me there could be 'the proper way' to do it. So without too much thought I had stapled a neat pile together.
Soon someone came to me. After staring my work for a moment she corrected, "Lauri, the staple should be affixed diagonally - not upright. The paper will tear off easily if you staple upright." What a noble advice and well justified. Diagonally that is then.
With new instructions I continued the job. A moment passed and another person came me and said, "The staple should be about 3 cm away from the edges. You have affixed them too near the corner." Er... Right, diagonally, 3 cm from the edges - that is the art of stapling.
What could be the core reason for all the rules that sometimes seem irrelevant for me? Perhaps Japanese people from their nature try to seek safety and avoid uncertainty and therefore they need heaps of guides to follow and to create predictability. One one hand, predictability is good and can be justified with many positive aspects. On the other hand, list of customs and guides is no good and leads to boringness and single mindedness.
A problem can have multiple solutions.
Same goal can be reached in several ways.
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