Japan's Ordinary Is the World's Wonder

Going abroad, I keep rediscovering Japan as if I were importing it back home. Trains run on time. Lost wallets are returned. Change is counted honestly. To many visitors, these everyday facts are remarkable.

The same is true on the factory floor. A culture where people start improving things without being told, and where inspection is treated as a matter of pride rather than a chore, is one of Japan's quiet treasures. Inside Japan, these things feel so normal that few count them as value. Seen through a foreign yardstick, they become a genuine culture of quality.

The wider the gap between our normal and the world's normal, the more worth there may be in sharing it. Strengths are hard to see from the inside precisely because they feel ordinary. Perhaps we only notice their value when we step outside and look back. What do you work for?