OUTLOOK — By Ahmed Al Falahi — The Japanese experience — and then the rest of the Asian tigers — is still the model in the overall development that guides any modern development experience either in record time for formation or the way to be used. Certainly if this experience continued at the same pace, it would continue to be the only experience in the history of mankind.
I am writing on this topic after the interview I watched in one of the Gulf channels last week with an expatriate Kuwaiti living in Japan since 25 years for being married to a Japanese woman. He opened a school and he is practising teaching profession. The interview lasted for more than two hours and I was amazed by several points I wanted to highlight here.
The school day in Japan runs from eight o’clock in the morning, to eight o’clock in the evening. The school does not have any cleaning workers, but all faculty is involved in the cleaning process of the school at the end of the school day. About 76 extracurricular activities are available to the student and the students have to choose 5 activities in the school year. The man confirmed that all state institutions do not have any cleaners, but this duty is shared by all staff, and the university students who want to improve their monthly incomes could contribute to the work of cleaning against a monthly pay.
He assured that everyone is equal before the law, as well as social justice. Families share home duties among the members of the family. They don’t hire people to work for them at homes. They work without complaint. However, there is always a space for entertainment, and social and religious celebrations, which open them to wider prospects of a renewable future vision. He spoke about the tsunami incident which hit the region. He, as a Kuwait national, was treated like Japanese citizens in terms of aid received, and the social support. Simple men, academic teachers, doctors, or engineers worked together to rebuild their homes where the professional differences vanished.
The experience of Japan in manufacturing sector doesn’t need to be documented here. The whole world knows their achievements in this side. I recently read that the literacy rate among Japanese is the highest ever. I don’t wonder that they have such a social, economic, cultural and political awareness. There is no doubt that when we hear or read, or watch, about these people, we get astonished and we get anxious to benefit from this unique experience in the different areas of our lives. We are fascinated by the experience of the West although it is outside the time authority compared to the experience of living people who are reinforcing their developmental achievements today in various fields, and they really worth to be a model in various fields.
