The registry system was introduced in the Meiji period in the 19th century as means of keeping track of its population. All over Japan, you see men parked in their cars sleeping or reading, sometimes for hours at a time.Įvery person in Japan belongs to a family registry that documents marriage, births and deaths. But even that is not enough for some people. The Japanese are very good at shutting out the world around them and making their own privacy by losing themselves in reading a comic book or sleeping while they are surrounded by people. With personal space being so hard to find in Japan the concept of privacy is more of state of mind than a condition of being alone. Lawns are so small they are cut with scissors and gardens are so small Japanese say they will fit on a "cat's forehead." The shortage of space has been the inspiration behind Japanese engineering wonders such as the Walkman, candy-bar size cell phones, compact cars and wafer-thin television sets.Ĭommon Japanese tools include a nata, a wonderfully functional Japanese tool-sort of like a cross between a long-bladed hatchet and a heavy fish cleaver, and a kama-a short, single-hand sickle, for cutting heavy brush, and a short-handled bamboo rake. People entertain outside their homes because there is no room to entertain guests inside their homes. If there weren't such strict rules and strong pressures to obey them people would be all over each other, in each other’s face, and at each other's throats.īusinessmen spend the night in coffin-sized sleeping capsules. Bicycles and pedestrians fight for space on crowded sidewalks, which are especially packed on rainy days and sunny days, when umbrellas are out in force. A dozen lap swimmers may squeeze into single lane at a swimming pool. Everyday the Japanese are packed together like sardines on subways and in kitchen-size yakatori bars and sushi restaurants. A weekly chore in Japan Many Japanese customs, values and personality traits arise from the fact that Japanese live so close together in such a crowded place.