Honestly...

One never fails to be amazed by the Japanese. In many ways they are strange and incomprehensible, but one infallible trait they all share is honour.

Every morning I head to the pantry to get my morning cup of joe, well a couple of weeks ago, somebody left a 100 yen coin on the counter. For over a week, I saw that same 100 yen piece lying on the counter, in a place everybody frequents. Pretty much everyone on the 14th floor stops by the pantry, including the cleaning staff and vending machine re-fillers. Aside from the restrooms, it's got to be the most visited part of the office.

Nobody has taken that darn 100 yen piece...

Suspecting it may be too little money to be tempting, last week, I put a couple more 100 yen pieces next to the lone 100 yen coin. Hey, now it's US$3.00, now we're talking, now it's worth taking! You could buy a whole pack of cigarettes, or 3 cokes from the vending machine, a pack of chips, a free trip to the 100 yen shop!

Nobody has taken the darn 300 yen...

So based on the results of my little anthropological experiment, I conclude that Japanese people are either extremely wealthy, or extremely honourable.