{"id":2887,"date":"2009-09-22T07:38:53","date_gmt":"2009-09-22T15:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=2887"},"modified":"2018-02-02T19:40:28","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T19:40:28","slug":"notebook-lost-work-ethic-found","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/09\/22\/notebook-lost-work-ethic-found\/","title":{"rendered":"Notebook Lost, Work Ethic Found"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rob Schmitz continues his dispatches from Japan, where he’s reporting on that country’s aggressive approach to energy efficiency–and what lessons we might take from them. Rob returns to KQED’s Los Angeles Bureau in October–with his notebook.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Today I left my notebook on the train to Ota<\/a>. In it were notes of all the interviews I had conducted since arriving in Japan. Throughout my day of reporting, I repeatedly asked to borrow my interpreter\u2019s notebook, and by the end of the day, I was depressed with the thought of having to listen to hours of tape that I had meticulously transcribed over weeks of interviews. When we returned to the station, my interpreter, Chiaki, took me to the station master\u2019s office. That\u2019s where I met Mr. Aiba.<\/p>\n

\"\"
My Travelling Notebook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aiba-san was in his 50s, tall, thin, graying hair, glasses, and, like most Japanese in his position, incredibly polite. He wore a blue uniform and a green band around his arm with \u2018security\u2019 written on it in Kanji<\/a>. Aiba-san listened intently to Chiaki\u2019s every word describing the notebook, where I left it, and how important it was to me. He asked follow-up questions: \u201cWhat are the approximate dimensions of the notebook? Is your name on the notebook?\u201d and so on. As Chiaki answered, he took notes.<\/p>\n

When he was finished, he offered us a seat, briskly walked to his desk, and picked up the phone. He called other stations, he called cleaning companies, and he consulted timetables. In between calls, he updated us: \u201cThe train you were on has made three round trips from Tokyo to Akagi today. Cleaning crews in many cities have cleaned the train several times.\u201d Aiba-san briefly left the room while he waited to hear from the cleaning crews. He returned with some tea for us. A minute later, he received a call from the cleaning crew in Akagi, a city in the mountains at the end of the line: they found my notebook. Nobody had claimed it, so it had been tossed into a recycling bin. It was waiting for me on the platform there.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Aiba-san, getting the job done.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBut you\u2019ll have to hurry,\u201d said Aiba-san, looking at his watch. \u201cThe train to Akagi leaves in less than one minute.\u201d He escorted us, running frantically in the lead, to the platform. We barely made the train. I had a few seconds to reach into my bag to give him a box of See\u2019s<\/a> chocolates that I had brought as a gift for my interviewees. He sternly declined the gift, but I insisted.<\/p>\n

When we arrived to the tiny Akagi station, two elderly custodians with brooms in their hands were waiting for us on the platform. They bowed in unison to me and handed me my notebook. They had neatly wrapped it in a copy of the train\u2019s timetable. This is just one of many examples of the generosity and commitment to service that I\u2019ve experienced in my short time in Japan. Had I lost my notebook on a train or a bus back home, would anyone care? They probably would\u2019ve laughed me out of the station at the thought of tracking it down.<\/p>\n

Now, take this behavior to a macro level and you start to see why Japan, an island nation with no fossil fuels and few resources of any kind, has become the second largest economy in the world. When Japan puts its collective mind to something, it not only gets the job done, but it oftentimes excels at it. From my conversations with government officials, business leaders, and those in the non-profit sector here, it\u2019s obvious that Japan is not only committed to reducing greenhouse gases, but perhaps more importantly, it wants to make a lot of money from doing so.<\/p>\n

In short, it wants to ensure that its companies own and make as much of the technology that goes towards this global effort as is possible, and it\u2019s got a head start. Japan leads the world by a long shot in registered patents in the green technology sector, according to a report<\/a> from CERNA<\/a>, the Centre d’Economie Industrielle. Check out the final pages of that report, which compare countries, and you’ll see Japan leads in every patent category except one. Japan is getting the job done, just like Aiba-san stepped up to do his job when I sought his help. It\u2019s a spirit that\u2019s refreshing to be around. We could use a few more Aiba-sans back home.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Japan, small commitments add up to big results. Even a lost reporter’s notebook provides an object lesson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11416,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[179,262,298,306,579,608],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-2887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-power","tag-economics","tag-green-tech","tag-international","tag-japan","tag-technology","tag-transportation"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nNotebook Lost, Work Ethic Found | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/09\/22\/notebook-lost-work-ethic-found\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Notebook Lost, Work Ethic Found | Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In Japan, small commitments add up to big results. 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