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From: TheJapanChannelDcom
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  • This very topic suits me so well. I tend to be way too early at an apointment, and if I have the smallest of suspect that I might be late I call to apologise immediately. I've got a question too, though. There's something I read in a magazine some time ago that, if you travel to work by train in Japan and there's a delay (very, very, very rare), the railway company would hand out a document for your employer stating the reason for you being late, and your company will accept it. Is that true?

  • @Icedmindblow Yes it is true, I've never needed to get one thankfully, also there was a Japans train documentary on tv and they had mentioned this, I'm Japanese but currently residing in Canada, and so many people here don't believe how punctual the transportation in Japan is, so when it is late which is VERY RARE, they feel responsible for you missing appointments and or losing your job.

  • I love all of your videos. Subscribed!

  • shit, I have a problem if I go to Japan =')

  • LOL I'm horrible at being early. Meaning, I'm there way too early! Mainly I'm just horrible at judging traffic, so I'm always leaving waaaaaaay ahead of time just to make sure. Here in the US, they're always tearing up streets, so there's always some point at which you have to either take a detour or slow to a stop on the motorway. I wonder if the traffic in Japan's any better :-P

  • I was late to my first japanese lesson and forgot the document that proved i payed for it. The teacher sort of lost it and started to say some rather mean things (which was funny cause her spanish wasn't very good). I will never forget that and wish i would have seen this video beforehand. BTW i was 15 and depended on my parents for transportation so i didn't mean it.

  • if i phoned to say i was going to be late is that ok

  • @gamer1412 that has been answered look just under the video

  • I watch a lot of anime and I always hear or read this lines if they are meeting some friends..."sorry Iam late" is this only in anime??

  • My dad wouldn't survive a day in Japan, he's always the last one ready to go while I'm ready with about 10 minutes to spare.

  • Have the Japanese no traffic jams or accidents or deaths :P?

  • I´d be SO dead! I´m the latest person on the planet.

  • My company training taught us to be 15 minutes early for every day of work.

  • :D your like Saxton hale to cultural boundaries.

  • In my family we're extremely lax about time.

    I've gotten used to waiting over an hour for people. No biggie I just start doing my own stuff in the meanwhile. I've single-handedly taught them to call when late so I get notified early on.

    Maybe this is why I'm also always late. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

  • Being 30 minutes early to anything makes me nervous. Being 10 minutes early makes me pull my hair. Being on time makes me want to cry and not want to go. I believe I'm the only one in my family like this. My parents are early birds as well, but not as extreme. I just hate being stared at. The later you come, the more people that'll be there, the more eyes that will look at the door.

  • @MrMortalkombatfan

    Maybe!

    Just polite too, I think.

  • "ive gotta go, im late" LOLOLOLS!!!!! ^_^ i love ur channel!!!

  • The exact same rules apply in the Netherlands, although it's sometimes acceptable here to be 15 minutes too late.

    I can't imagine how other countries work, where everyone just shows up whenever they feel like.

  • @Refalm I grew up in Holland...But now living in the states...I know what you mean about people showing up late...At my job I'm always about 10 minutes early..But my CoWorkers seem to pop in when they want to..mostly about 15 minutes late..Wish the Boss would do something about it..But like he said if i fire these people..You would be the only person working here..(meaning me)

  • I can totally understand this, I hate being late and I hate to wait for someone. I put all my clocks 5 min. earlier, so I'm normally not late ^^

  • Wow so cool, I love all of your videos. They are so helpful. You are definitely my favorite Channel.

  • @CelesteRepchukTV

    Thanks for watching!

  • are you serious about companies firing ppl for being late twice? What if a person's late once in January and then again once in July ? That person will probably get fired for that??

  • @tawan20082008 probs they wont remember the last time they were late

  • you should see the trains in switzerland! (i bet it's the same in japan) they aren't even 2 seconds late!!! if your train will arrive at 2, you can actually count down from 1:57, and the exact second (EXACT second) it hits 2, the train stops... its so freaky!

  • I can relate to this.  I don't remember who told me this. But I was late for something once and tried to tell them why and they said "Don't ruin your apology with an excuse."

    Yea. Couldn't understand it at the time, but makes sense.

  • That´s a good thing, but brazilians, usually are late for social meetings. Not for jobs or what else, bu for parties, social meetings, dinners, dates etc... it´s almost cultural here to be at the place, one hour later than schedulled.

  • you can get in trouble for being too early aswell? that's not good for me i'm alway TOO early...

  • i tend to like to be rather early when i need to be somewhere, definitely over 5 minutes early, a solution to that ordeal though, i would hide around the corner where i wont be noticed and where they wont go through until closer to the time i should have arrived

  • i'm not japanese but i'm asian, yeah i really don't like someone being late . i don't know why ..but i really don't like it. may be 5- 10 min is ok but more than 15 min is not acceptable. yeah if you are too early some people think that you probably have free time to waste and wasting time .

  • @nobreakpeter163978 lol i have an asian friend that's always late (30 mins late the minimum) and sometimes would be late for an hour...occassionally he would just cancel. I try to put up with it but it's kind of annoying

  • It is a stereotype for my race that we are always late . They even have a name for it . I laugh at it and brush it off , but my family can not understand why I strive to arrive at my destination 30 minutes or earlier . I would rather wait outside or in a room and read a book , listen to music ect . rather then do the one hundred yard dash and taking a chance on hurting myself or others just trying to make it on time . Sometimes things happen so its understandable

  • We need to send some of these low life urban people to Japan for a good brain washing. Especially some of the females.

  • so what if you were in an accident and got late for work? would you still lose your job, and when i mean an accident, i mean something minor from which you can walk away unharmed.

  • I have 2 japanese friend who are both always too late Oo .

    How about that? I mostly indeed go to the meeting point about 5 min befor time.

    I'll just hang around waiting somewhere else first.

    This is the same for business meetups..

  • I have 2 japanese friend who are both always too late Oo .

    How about that? I mostly indeed go to the meeting point about 5 min befor time.

    I'll just hang around waiting somewhere else first.

    This is the same for business meetups..

  • If they feel bad.... i would be relaxed....

    Would your boss also fire you if your early..... or would get more positive from it

  • Lol geez good thing i tend to be punctual =) Im curious, why was the video self discipline removed?

  • so true

    when i went to Japan(Tokyo) for the first time from Hong Kong, the plane actually departed early

    i've never even heard of a plane departing early

    usually there would be incosiderate assholes but not Japanese peole

  • I wish it would be a custom everywhere to not be late.

    I always end up waiting for people which come with the worst excuses every time.

  • That is actually pretty simple, I'm always 5-15min early when I have to meet someone or do something. But I guess I should try being 4-5min so I don't have to wait as long, I love being early. I don't know why though.

  • I'm asian, so thank god i understand these things. In taiwan, my uncle told me that he would pick me up at 8 pm. 7:59, i leave my house and i see him outside waiting for me. Never have i seen him late once.

  • God damn, I don't think I could ever keep a job there after hearing that...

  • Its like in anime: The girl shows up an hour early for her date and the guy shows up half an hour early and apologizes for being late, but she lies and says she just got there.

    Oh Japan...

  • love your vids!

  • oh man. My problem is I'm always TOO early. like an hour early. hehehe.

  • @RockerXZERO

    Same here xD

  • lol nice ending,

  • Not all are so incredibly punctual. I've been stuck waiting for Japanese friends and individuals who were supposed to meet with a group at a specific time.

    In general, I'd say Japan values punctuality more than most other countries and does offer more social and workplace punishments for it, but people still run late.

    Mostly, what I hear, is that people will just think less of you (as a friend, co-workers, etc) if you are constantly tardy.

  • 5 stars for being late :)

  • Mate you need to teach then about "beer O'clock" LOL "Poets day" also.

  • ever heard of brown time, we would be hated in japan for being late all the time... one time this girl was getting married scheduled for 11:00, she didn't show till around 3...lol it was hilarious to watch and irritating for all other races who came punctual.

  • i work for a japanese company and when i use to be late i felt A LOT of negative energy and it was just a bad feeling all day like i felt the need to have to make it up to them somehow. so now i come even 15-20 minutes earlier.. and work life has been way better lol

  • "Reasons" are also considered EXCUSES in Japan. so ture....

  • I would love to live in Japan because I hate people who are late. I waited for one person for one hour.

  • this vid wont play for me.. whats the deal?

  • shit Im always late most of the time.. sad.

  • who knew it would be the World ending to be late?,For a Job,yes it is important! ...but any kind of activity in japan like a friend meeting for aisukuri-mu is rude?!...only 5 minutes late...what?..HMMP!

  • I really enjoy being on time if not a few minutes early. My family does not get this.

  • probably I wouldn't survive in Japan:)

    Is it also percieved very rude by Japanese if you call the person earlier and inform that you will be a late for 10min? :)

  • @trebleclefzu

    Calling and offering a humble apology (but NO excuse) would be better than not calling and being late.

  • @TheJapanChannelDcom

    What is there was an accident, like a car accident, would you tell them then?

  • @bigun89 You have got to apologize until they tell you to stop.

  • i have read that even if you are accurate at your appointment, sometimes japanese may skip it because a more important client wanted some extra time teir services. That status may sometimes make japanese people 'be late'. is that true?

  • so say for example the train was stopped on Monday and then my car breaks down on Tuesday I can expect to lose my job!?

  • my work tells me that i should be at work at 830 but i arrive around 8 or 815...problem is now this is my expected time to arrive...

    Catching a train is frustrating... once i was litterally 30secs late, the train conductor so my friend pull up and me jump out but he still blew his whistle and went regardless of my frantic waving...apart from that im always on time...back home i was always "fashionably late" by 5mins, even at work :S

  • good one! And a very important lesson, if you are visiting Japan!!!

  • おつかれさん♪ Thanks 4 another “naisu”upload, Dude! ♪ My comment has nothing 2 do with Japanese punctuality♪ ・・・But certain comments, here, make it sound like Americans normally tend to be late for their appointment♪ Are you discussing “college life”? ♪ (^^) ・・・Other than Japan, IMO, the Anglophone countries (especially “ENGland,” US & CAN), as well as Germany, (,etc.) have also been universally recognized for being punctual, haven’t they?♪

  • Yes to that except for the US.

  • Im always late and it bothers my husband so much. He is so punctual. We can learn a little from the japanese. Being late does reflect bad on us. Its for our own good anyway when were running late its usualy our own fault and then we have road rage and people in bad moods.

  • What happens if you are late due to a late train, or a natural disaster, such as an earthquake? Would you still loose your job?

  • that's certainly going to prove a challenge... my current job (at home in the USA) start time is 8:30am. Due to the wild fluctuation of traffic, I end up arriving anywhere between 8:10am and 8:50am leaving at the exact same minute every day. I'm assuming commute time is more predictable in Japan?

  • I like how you say that thumbs up are appreciated; rather than a few other people on YT that just say "Thumbs up, Comment and Subscribe." I hate that.

  • @TheWhitmore are you ok, now?

  • I am also a conscientious friend.

  • wow, in spanish countries, its ok to show up late and even leave when u wanna, everyone takes a siesta or a passeo in the middle of the day, punctuality is for businessmen in my former country.

  • hmm... I am a conscientious employee. I guess I would make a good Japanese...???

  • I guess there's no such thing as being fashionably late in Japan xP

  • Wow. This struck me at an interesting time, because my Japanese friend just broke up with her boyfriend because he was always late to things. To family events and parties, she said that his being late reflected poorly on her and the family. It's a pity.

  • To be honest this really scared me. I'm a very organized person every thing around me is always in order. But when it comes to being on time ah... being a girl, it takes me a lot of time to get ready so quite often I end up being late. But my friend who's life and house are a mess always manages to be on time. And as hard as I try it often ends up this way. I alway do things by the rules so I don't want to be considered a careless person in Japan so I would really appreciate some advice. =)

  • What about crazy situations?  Example: The train was delayed because of a suicide. That's why I'm an hour late.

  • @akin242002

    From what I've researched, if that does occur, you are given an official ticket by the railway company stating the "delay" which may be used to vouch on your part.

  • @akin242002 trains in Japan are never late. suicide or not.

  • Wow. Maybe you're right, we might have a little problem with punctuality...

  • FIRST!!!

  • @Wupierto for what?

  • @glasseyelashes

    It was a joke, read the post right before it.

  • @Wupierto gotcha. ok

  • I don't how well i would be with the not too early with all the time i was in band. We always had the saying To be early is to be on time. To be on time is to be late. To be late is to be left.

  • lol the last sentence was priceless.

  • well its better to be early than late. Just leave earlier... if u can. Great vids i love them.

  • I'm always the one who needs to wait for my friends,, it get kind of annoying when you always have to wait.. but your tolerated increases xD

  • I always like to turn up early for things, especially anything to do with college since I like to make sure I know what I am doing so if a lesson is in a different room or something then I can still make it on time. Though, like others have asked, if you have a valid reason for being late like car troubles, health issues etc. is that... all right? So long as you explain why of course.

  • Good reason for me not to try working in Japan x)

  • That is very true. My dad always goes to appointment like an hour earlier then the time. I guess it rubbed off on me as well since I always try not to be late for stuff. However, here in the U.S people are always late for things, which can get kind of annoying.

  • How often do you see old American muscle cars in Japan. How expensive are they? That would be cars from the 60's-70's.

  • I'm like the totally opposite of my friends in Florida. They are always at least 30 minutes late and I'm always 10 minutes early. Pisses me off a lot.

  • what if you have a family emergency and end up comeing late? What would happen then?

  • I remember the train was late once by about 3 minutes. But about 6 minutes before it arrived there was an announcement over the speakers saying this would be the case, and that the train company was very sorry for the inconvenience. As a foreigner, you just have to smile at things like that.

  • Since working in the military made it a point to never be late for anything.

    Nice to know I could make it in Japan.

    Thumbs up

  • Guess if I wanna go to Japan I better learn to be on time >.>" I almost never am. I'm close, within 5 minutes but still.

  • lol wow you can't hardly win huh!?

  • what about being late due to a traffic jam or there was an accident?

    you cant control punctuality in every case. i am also always about

    20 minutes early for everything. i dont mind waiting and it gives me

    time to think.

  • @aizeemifridgerunnnin There are SOME systems involved with such situations. For example, if a train is late in Japan, therefore causing you to be late, they hand people tickets explaining to employers the reason why they are late.

  • Haha I'm about 10-15 min late sometimes when im tierd..same goes for school.. but when i'm really awake and ready to go i'm there like 30min early >_> so i have to sit and wait.. i think the longest time i have been late to school is like 45 min and the fun part is that my teacher dident even notice... lol :p

  • I would not survive in Japan because of that 'time' XD I'm either way too early or too late...

  • @OMGLDG same

  • being late is my family legacy

  • @yasmine59 ive been late for things since kindergarden and im 23 now lol

  • @yasmine59 same thing here.

    I mean I'm late for work every single day. Sometimes it's 5 min, sometimes up to 20. And I always stay about half an hour late afterwards or work in the lunch break.

    This is another reason Japan wouldn't be the right place for me :P

  • it seems like everyone i know thinks on time means 10-15 minutes late.

  • Hahaha I'm going to be so stuffed when I'm in japan :S I'm always late but all my friends get to places later then me so it's all good :D

  • I'm relieved because in Germany it's normal to come punctual. I'm not even too late when it is said:

    "You can come from 8pm ON"

  • It is considered to be courtesy to arrive at five minutes before.It time is a minimally permissible range. The Senior and Junior proglam has needed to that junior have to be more than 10 minutes before. However when a case of couple situation, a woman is late for time. But a woman late for time is on purpose, and that base is time of just at to the last.For the Japanese who such a live in natural life, hard to accept for foreign countrys careless time.

  • @gtoyas

    Our Japanese friend is being very polite here.

    But what he is referring to is the fact that foreigners have a reputation in Japan for being late.. and Japanese people don't like it!

    That is why I made this video ^_^

  • @TheJapanChannelDcom

    I love how Japanese people are punctual. Most North Americans are late even for appointments and other things. I'm always 5-15 minutes early and people hate me for it, but I'm always on time. I tell people the time is half an hour prior to the time when it really is so they will show up on time.

  • @TheJapanChannelDcom africans do it best……they say let's leave at 7 then that means lets leave at 10!! laid back is so much better than uptight!

  • @TheJapanChannelDcom but isn't it also true that Japanese believe foreigners have a reputation for many things - some of which are not true. I have been kept waiting on numerous occasions by Japanese people. I waited for twenty mins at a bank while the person I was meeting stood not 3 meters away from me talking to another member of staff. No apology was offered! So, just as not all foreigners are late - not all Japanese are on time!

  • The ONLY excuse for being late would be if your train got delayed, but then they give you a special piece of paper to prove it!

  • my friends are never on time. pisses me off so much

  • In my city in Moscow everyone who knows me is always being late...

    10-40 mins !!! Horrible

    BUT WE STILL BEST FRIENDS !

  • "ive gota go i'm late" LMAO!!

  • If you're early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late. If you're late, wellll... you better just leave and never come back.

  • lol i always arrive 10 minutes earlier

  • i would lose my job twice a week if i lived in japan =X

    and my friends too...

  • thanks for this, now i know when i visit Japan i'll be extra careful since i'm usually on the tardy side :P

  • I wish it was like this at home. Everyone is always late and I HATE it.

  • What about if your ill or something? :)

  • if that's trueee.... I am happy to be German here it's important, too so I'm always on time haha :D

  • What do you mean by "excuses are not acepted"? What if I sit in a traffic jam and can't be there on time? What will their reaction be like when I say "gomen nasai, I was stuck in a traffic jam"?

  • @LeaShishiza Tell them beforehand... Should work :o

  • @LeaShishiza

    Haha and if you come even earlier to avoid traffic, you're still fucked.

  • Now that's why I'm watching this channel! Great video - very informative! ^_^

    Thumbs up!

  • Just like a flash mob. You meet your 10 friends at the same time! LOL

  • All my Japanese friends come late... always. I want your friends! xD

  • @kageromaru My friend Ayaka - "Meet me at 5:30pm in town", I arrive in town at 5:15pm, she sends a text "sorry, I'm late. I'll be there at 6:00pm." I find things to occupy myself in the meantime, meet up with another friend for a while, and then FINALLY at 7:00pm she turns up :-p. What's that about the Japanese being punctual? I'm British! We're supposed to be lazy and unperturbed! And yet there's my friend Ayaka, the laziest Japanese on Earth :-p.

  • @dan892k7 Hahahaha. :D

    My friends are only late with like 10 to 30 minutes (except this one time during winter when I was supposed to meet her before her apartment then we'd go, which turned out to something like standing around long enough that I can't talk xD , so I guess I'm lucky, hihi.

    I, uh... I just start doing nothing with my phone so I don't look stupid while I wait. x)

  • @kageromaru Haha, yeah I do that. Sat alone in the pub sending imaginary texts and smiling at my phone so that people think I have friends ;-). Yeah, it was an extreme case her being late by a whole hour and a half, I've never been kept waiting that long by any of my other Japanese friends. But as we're all students, I think we're all lazy, doesn't matter where you're from while you're at uni :-p.

  • @dan892k7 Hahaha. xD

    Well, I do have freinds, but it would be silly to call someone just to make myself confortable while waiting. :p not to mention people would STARE AT ME LIKE THIS O___O and try to figure out wtf I'm talking about. :3

    Woot. Strange. When I was in uni (for one whole year), I was more precise than ever before. :O

  • The time is only thing, once lost cant get more. ;) Peace

  • Thumbs up for "Japanische Pünktlichkeit" !

  • @AndreR241 Nach ein Jahr hier ich denke die deutscher pünktlichkeit ist nicht die besten. Es ist gleich mit Amerikanish pünktlichkeit.

  • @gb696 I think, our punctuality image is ... maybe it describes a tendency? I dont know. You got to tell my sister a meeting time 3 hours earlier to have her there in time... She's for sure not the best example, xD but an extreme one also.

  • @miokitten I was kind of joking in the way I hear about it so much, I have friends who have said it may time albeit a little jokingly, but while I have been here I end up being more punctual than most Germans. The other thing I found a little odd was that no one care at school when you are late to class, when in America we are punished after 3 counting times unless we have a pass written by another teacher.

  • @gb696 Hier bei uns bekommt man durchaus einen sehr schiefen Blick wenn man irgendwo zu spät kommt. Man bekommt es nicht direkt gesagt aber man bekommt es zu spüren.

  • Just intrested what do you do for your work in japan?

  • What if it was out of your control?? I mean traffic and accidents are out of your control so you cant really be blamed

  • @HeWhoLovesTheWeb I'm not sure about auto traffic, but I know that you can get a ticket stub from the subway that verifies that the train was running late.

  • This punctuality Nazism terrifies me. lol What if your car has trouble or something of that nature? Is it acceptable to call ahead and explain the situation, or should you just go ahead and perform harakiri? :P

  • only one thing is acceptable.. harakiri lol

  • shit, my 30 minutes late and finding it hilarious is not gunna fly :P

  • Thanks for the advice, I have been showing up early because I am very punctual about showing up on time and I arrive before my Japanese friends so they won't think badly of me, now I will try to arrive closer to the meeting time so they won't feel bad.

  • I remember hearing that if the train is late, you can get a form from the station that proves why you were late for work (as the train is usually always on time and it isn't great to show up too early for work). I miss Japanese transportation always being on time. Here it isn't out of the norm for buses to be 5-10 or more minutes late :P

  • well i don't let most of the times:P.

    Just a question just crossed my mind what work you do?:)

  • running late....? T.T

  • I got to go I'm late! ^_^

    I love your sense of humor!

  • I love it. 5 minutes early is my usual, too :D

  • @Yndostrui that was funny... not.

    MEGA CRINGE!

  • Interesting. From what you're saying, it's almost like you need to be perfectly on time. The importance of punctuality in Japan.

  • That's a really good thing about Japan!

    I think =)

  • so half of Americans are out of a job over there in japan.. because Americans are always late lol

  • LOL

  • (! uh

  • nice video

  • I can't live in Japan then : (! hahaha