“PUNCTUALITY WEEK” IN JAPAN.

Mt Benger Mail, 28 September 1938, Page 4

“PUNCTUALITY WEEK” IN JAPAN.

The American habit of devoting cerain days and weeks to specific objects lias acquired considerable popularity in Japan. “Punctuality Week” has been the atest occasion of this sort. It started with the more or less legendary anniversary of the first use of a clock in Japan. This was during the reign of the Emperor Tenchi (663-671 A.D.), who is •-redited himself with inventing a kind if instrument that measured the passing of time by the amount of water which leaked out of a vessel. On this day and, to a smaller extent, during the subsequent week, people are urged to consider the value of time and to keep appointments punctually. Watchmakers offer free service in regulating watches that run too fast or too slow.

In the past Japanese, like most other Oriental peoples, have had little regard for punctuality. A delay of an hour or two in keeping an appointment was regarded as of little moment. Speeches and entertainments seldom began at the appointed hour. Industrial life, however, has helped to change this attitude, especially in the cities. The Japanese railway trains are admirable aids to punctuality; they arrive and depart at the precise moment prescribed by the schedule.