The Downside of Pride
Sorry for the delay all. Had a bout of writer's block.
For those who live in or know well of Japan, you will notice that it is a very proud country and its inhabitants are a very proud people. Now while seemingly being a good thing, being too proud, however, comes with a whole lot of downsides, especially when it affects or hurts others.
During my short time here I have been baffled by companies being too proud to admit fault of their popular products until being "caught out" by the general public.
To name a few:
- Mitsubishi's shameful tragedy involving faulty breaks on several of their motor vehicles.
- The Roppongi Hills automatic revolving doors tragedy involving the death of a 6 year old.
- The 2006 elevator incident by Shindler's (German, I think?) which prompted a nation wide elevator surveyance. This particular elevator rose suddenly as its Japanese inhabitant was trying to exit, crushing his skull.
- The recent Fujiya bakery incident that decided out-of-date milk, eggs and jam was more cost-efficient. Result: A food-poisoning epidemic of about 14,000 people
- The roller coaster accident in Osaka, where the amusement park execs were too proud to actually check the status of their rides. Every year they signed off a good bill of health to their popular roller coaster ride without actually checking anything! You know Disneyland could never get away with that.
- And last, but not least, the boiler explosion at a Shibuya spa where the operator ignored prior warnings of a possible safety issue and/or explosion.
Now, I don't know about you, but that's quite a bit for a 3-4 year timeframe. And after it becomes public, the result is always the same. The big guys say a public "I'm sorry for your loss" and humbly resign/retire into a comfy existence. I recall that only one family that I know of complained to the company to receive compensation (the family of the boy in the revolving door incident). But suing is definitely a foreign concept in Japan. That family managed to squeeze out an extra apology and free flower arrangements for their son's funeral. Hmm....
So what's the lesson to be learned here? Being proud is good. But being honest is even better. That and stay away from amusement parks that don't have the Disney stamp of approval.
posted by Fudocom - Celina @ 12:31 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home