What do people remember us?

One day, you and I, he and she will not longer be here.


Do you know what will be left behind?

It is not our facebook account or our long friends list. It is not our brand clothing. It is not our properties or our cars;
It is our kids, our parents, our unpaid credit cards bill, our hatred, our greed and our enemies.

Do you know what do people remember us?

It is not our own achievement, but the achievement of the mankind. It is not how much money we gained, but how much many we gave. It is not how much we learned, but how much we shared. It is not how many trees we destroyed, but how many tree we planted. It is not how much food I wasted, but how much food I at least tried to save.

The only thing that will leave behind and how people remember us is our spirit. It is never about money or personal achievement.

Today, I met a handicapped patron in the neighborhood MacDonald. He was obviously out of his mind and acted abnormally. However, when he finished his meal, he carefully separated all garbage disposals and divided into burnable, non-burnable and unfinished beverage. Undoubtedly I was wrong. He was actually more normal than lots of people, who still think recycle is waste of time and global warming is a hoax.

An Uchiwa Story

In Japan, businesses and residents are making efforts to reduce the use of electricity. This is a story of a hand-held fan called "Uchiwa". The other day, I was in a fast ramen restaurant and I saw an Uchiwa. Since my kids like to collect Uchiwa and I thought it was only a gift or an advertisement of the restaurant. I took it, placed it inside my bag and took off. A couple of days later, I went to the other restaurant and I realized that the Uchiwa which placed over the counter is not meant to be taken. Since most businesses rose the temperature to 28 Celsius degree in Japan now, the Uchiwa is used for people who feel hot about the temperature. I am so embarrassing for what I did and amazed how Japanese handling this energy shortage voluntarily and unconditionally.

Some Difference Between China and Japan

China and Japan are so close in terms of geographical location, but there are lots of different between them, from sense of value to culture, technology to discipline-

Chinese people use ring tone and talk inside the train,

In Japan, people use only vibration inside the train and you hardly see people talk over the phone. Instead, they watch TV and listen to music with headphones, play games and send email and SMS.

In China, children gather and play around the house complex and apartment building hall way,

In Japan, children only play in the park and school.

In China, trash pile up after events and the end of the day in park,

In Japan, people tend to carry their own trash back home, no matter how big the event is or simply a family panic and BBQ. This is the reason why people can’t locate trash can in Tokyo. They simply don’t need it.

In China, you got horned if you don’t move your car in 2 seconds after green light,

In Japan, if you don’t move your car after green light, cars just wait for you patiently.

In Hong Kong, people complain everything,

In Japan, people tend to not to complain in order to avoid conflict.

It is common for Chinese to invite friends and colleagues to their house,

In Japan, this simply isn’t done. Not after you knowing him/her for 10 years.

In China, we bow for dead people only,

In Japan, staff bows for customers and principle bows for students. It is simply a greeting and a sign of respect.

Chinese people tell you directly what they want without any hesitation,

Japanese always make you guess what they mean. And please pay extra attention for sentence with this word, “kore wa chotto…”

You can easily names a list of well-known brand names from Japan,

There are only a few well–known brand names from China. I wish we could work on the quality over quantity.

In China, people use all kinds of transportations to get around,

In Japan, most people take train to work, use bicycle to go to the train station and drive their cars on weekend only.

In China, traffic signal is meaningless,

In Japan, traffic signal means everything. Of course, I do see people across the street at night with red signal.

In China, if a train comes on time, you are lucky,

In Japan, if a train is late, you are lucky.

In China, it doesn’t matter how you do it as long as the job is being done,

In Japan, it doesn’t matter you can finish it or not long as long as you follow the instruction.

Majority of Chinese use pirated software and watch pirated movie,

Majority of Japanese use original software and watch movie in the theater. They are just so honest.

Chinese cuisine- tastes come before the look,

Japanese cuisine- tastes might not always be good, but it always looks good.

Chinese people do thing on their own, there are no need for a manual because no one will read it,

Japanese have manual and instruction for almost everything- how to turn on a computer? How to eat an ice cream cone? Or how to open a box?

Toilet in China is just too dirty. I really don’t know why.

In contrast, toilet in Japan is much cleaner.

Every month, every week or even every day, China has food safely issue.

In Japan, it barley has it all, not even once a year. Nobody is going to argue with this.

The principle in Japan is not to bother people,

The principle in China is how to benefit oneself. But god bless, it is only a few millions of them in China.

These are strictly my own interpretation of China and Japan in 2011. I wish time can change and shake things up.