If a template exists in how human beings should co-exist, it is probably written in Japanese

The politeness is overwhelming. Nothing prepares you for the impeccable good manners of the Japanese. And it’s not some paddywhackery aimed at extracting the last yen from a visitor to the country. You only need to look at how they interact with each to realise this is a society unlike any other.

If a template exists in how human beings should co-exist, it is probably written in Japanese. They need to get on. There are over 127 million of them crammed into a small segment of land broken up into islands. The population of Tokyo, a city with a footprint the size of Connacht, is something like 23 million, rising to 37 million when the greater conurbation is taken into account.

And yet everything works like clockwork. Just about everyone is employed and in a communal spirit of generosity, each person tends to leave for work in the morning with the firm intent they will do that job at 100%, irrespective how menial the task.