In December 2011, the Kanji of the Year, chosen by public vote, was 絆, kizuna, bonds. It received 61,453 votes, 12.36 percent of a record 496,997 entries. The head priest of Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto writes the winning character at the temple.
The year had brought the Great East Japan Earthquake, typhoon damage and floods in Thailand. Among the reasons given was that people had learned again how much ties to family, friends and their community mattered.
From October to November 2010, the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training surveyed regular employees aged 20 to 59 about taking paid leave. It received 2,071 valid answers and published the results in April 2011.
Among the reasons for holding back from taking leave, 60.2 percent agreed with Yasumu to shokuba no hoka no hito ni meiwaku ni naru kara. Taking time off would cause trouble for others at work.
On October 11, 1962, Tokyo enacted an ordinance on preventing violent and disorderly acts that cause serious trouble to the public. Its Japanese name uses the word meiwaku, trouble or nuisance caused to others. The Tokyo police call it the nuisance prevention ordinance.
On June 24, 2018, Japan played Senegal at the World Cup in Yekaterinburg, Russia. After the match, Japanese supporters picked up trash. The Japan player Yoshida said: “We are also very moved. It makes me very proud that what Japanese people do is praised around the world.”
Japan’s national curriculum for elementary schools lists, under special activities, the understanding of the role of duty activities such as cleaning, and of the meaning of working.
A guide of Saitama Prefecture describes kyūshoku tōban, school lunch duty. The pupils on duty carry, serve and clear away the lunch. It advises teachers to rotate the tasks, so that pupils try various jobs and learn to work together. As pupils grow older, more of the work should be left to them.
A well-known story tells how Ishida Mitsunari entered the service of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi stopped at a temple and asked for tea. A temple boy first served a cup almost full of lukewarm tea. Hideyoshi asked for more. The boy served less tea, a little hotter. The third time, he served a small amount of quite hot tea in a small cup. Hideyoshi was impressed by the boy’s attentiveness and asked the abbot for him.
The story is known as sanken no cha, the three offerings of tea. It first appears in Bushō kanjōki, published in 1716, and was later retold in Ehon Taikōki and Meishō genkōroku. It is most likely a later invention.
Kayui tokoro ni te ga todoku (痒い所に手が届く): one’s hand reaches the itchy spot. Care that reaches every small detail, the mark of someone who is attentive.
Ki ga kiku (気が利く): one’s attention works. Noticing even small things, being thoughtful and quick to see what is needed.
The education company Benesse asked mothers what kind of person they hoped their child would become. In Japan, 71 percent answered hito ni meiwaku o kakenai hito, a person who does not cause trouble for others. Newsweek Japan reported the figure in 2019 but did not give the year of the survey.
A Benesse report of 2018 on the lives of young children describes the wish that a child should not cause trouble for others as a traditional value that parents still hold.