#Industry News
Behind the Scenes: Furniture Maker’s Charity Projects
Debate and volunteering shaped by Japanese culture
Do you have a debate class as part of school subjects? In Japan, no, never, at least when I was a student, though it’s about 30 years ago. To top it all off, even after entering the real world, we are likely to avoid to put it in black and white. I don’t mean it’s always wrong. It must have been an ancestor wisdom not to make enemies in the insular communities of Japan, but as you can imagine, it leads to a big problem: A consensus is vaguely formed, and even meeting attendees sometimes miss it. Accordingly, we are always required to improve skills to read between the lines rather than beat someone else in discussion.
Last month, we donated our furniture to a local children’s home. I myself was there for delivery and felt really happy to see kids clustering around our sofas with big smiles on their faces. I’m sure their smiles motivated us much more than a small pay raise. In that sense, charity work may be rational even in the market mechanism.
