This December I was rather fortunate to earn an all expense paid trip to Japan. I spent 4 wonderful days in a beautiful country with very gracious hosts. Basically we were a select group of school officials and teachers who were sponsored by the Fukuoka Tourism Board to visit the Fukuoka District in Japan. It was quite an experience because I was treated like a VIP for most of the trip. Everything was catered for. No worries watsoever.
Delicious food, fascinating toilets, beautiful scenery and amazing sights...pity I had to contend with my very Singaporean counterparts though.
That said...I know one apple shouldn't spoil the whole basket. And in general, the travelling companions I had were for the most parts, nice and cordial. However...one unpleasant incident will remain etched in my head. Kinda sickens my stomach whenever I think of it actually.
But here goes...
On the 2nd day of the trip, we were scheduled bright and early to visit a Persimmon fruit farm. According to our guides, the farm had already been harvested, but on the request of the Fukuoka Tourism Board, a little plot of just over 15 trees were left for us to experience some fruit picking. Japanese Persimmon are renowned for their sweetness, texture and near perfect symmetry. A small one easily sells in the market for 300Yen (SGD3.90). The near perfect ones in excellent shape and size retails for 1000Yen(SGD13.00) or more. They make for excellent gifts and the Japanese pride themselves for their ability to produce these sweet succulent honeyed fruits.
In any case...if you were told of a persimmon fruit picking experience in Japan, how many of these persimmons would you pick? The guide tells you that you can buy a box for 200Yen(SGD2.60) to keep the persimmons in. So how many would you pick?
Here's what I figured...probaby get 4 or 5...depending on how big the box is. Maybe a dozen? Cause that's what you usually get in a box. A dozen.
Picking time...and off we went on little ladders with clippers to snipped those nice persimmons. Our hosts were great, showing us around, even slicing a few persimmons for us to sample. I snipped about 12 for myself, and another 12 for my colleague who was helping me with the picking basket...and then another 12 for another lady who didn't want to do all that much climbing. Quite a fun way to start the morning really.
Back to the packing station...and I had the absolute shocker of the trip!
Here I was blessedly happy with my 12 nice persimmons...thinking how I would probably eat some and give the rest away to my grandma and other relatives. And how many did some of my travelling companions pick?
40!
A big fat 4-0...forty. And that's by my conservative estimate. Some clearly had 50-60.
I was just disgusted by the behaviour and attitude.
I know I should not judge...and I also know our Japanese hosts did not mind a single bit. They went about happily serving us Persimmon slices and even persimmon soda which kinda tasted like the old "FANTA" drinks.
But its the whole principle behind it you know...like...JUST BECAUSE IT'S FREE, WE MUST TAKE MORE!
It's sickening. And the offenders included a HOD and a Dean of Dept in a polytechnic.
What sort of education are we giving are children...if our educators are like that.
We are no longer a developing country. We are Singapore...we've come a long way from our survivalist days in the 60s to the industrialised drive in the 70s and 80s. I'm proud of Singapore and it's growth and how far we've come. Surely our behaviour and attitudes must change as well. All this "kia-su"(scared to lose or be last) and "kia-see"(scared to die) has got to give way to more graciousness.
It sickens my gut.
Singapore is a clean city...but it's not the Singaporeans who do it.
Day in day out...I see parents who litter in front of their kids. The other day, this fat bitch of a woman, while loading her child into a very luxurious SUV...nonchalantly threw a plastic bag on the floor. I felt ashamed actually...cause I didn't work up the courage to just walk over to her and say "Auntie, you left this on the floor. Think you 'forgot'. "
I'm not saying I am a saint. I have my share of flaws. But I know I've always doen what I could on my own accord to keep Singapore clean. It's not hard to just place rubbish in your pocket and throw it away at the nearest bin. THERE ARE SO MANY BINS IN SINGAPORE! There's barely a bin in sight in Japan...and the country is CLEAN! Go figure...its all in the attitude.
In 2008...I just hope I have the courage to confront these folks I see...who just flick their litter on the floor.
2 comments:
As a SG PR, I feel the same. It doesn't mean I look down on Singaporeans.
Times when we get into crowds, people are so senseless that they either block out the way for others or just push pass.
Today when I was taking the escalator down the MRT station, I got a hard punch on my back. The punch was so hard that I uttered ouch. At that time, I was standing on the left side of the escalator. The passenger behind me stood in the middle of the escalator. She got pushed by people trying to get pass. As a chain reaction, she ducked sideway and gave me the hard punch.
If I hurt somebody unintentionally, I would apologize. I feel sorry for these people that that “sorry” was never heard under such circumstances.
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