Detail, Detail and Detail

I suppose I will not make excuses anymore for the lack of update on this blog. Too many thoughts are stored inside my head and I am not inclined to put them in writing for whatever reasons.

For today I would like to mention about my observation living in Japan. If there is one thing that taught me a great deal about Japan and its people, it is the idea of extreme control and detail orientation. Let me elaborate it by giving some clear examples, I hope you, dear readers (wonder if anyone is reading this :P), will be convinced.

The first one is bonsai, an ancient art in plant's (even animals?) miniaturization. People spend years and years ensuring that the plants stay small, not only that, but the direction where the branches to go is also controlled to such a degree, the tree would actually grow in the direction that the artist wishes it to go. The next one is the art of flower arrangement, ikebana. I am not sure if the real meaning of the flower arrangement is lost amongst the arrangers, but there are reams of manuals explaining how the angle of the flowers should stand up, ensuring certain flowers to match with exact type of other flowers. It again demonstrates extreme control and mechanism which to me is a bit mindboggling.

Only two examples above, but I hope it gives a little clear understanding what I am talking about with regard to attentation to details and control in Japan. Why is this important? Well, I really think that these two attitudes are ingrained in most of Japanese and it is very much existing at my work place.

Being Indonesian, this is surely a thing or two that needs to be learned on paying more attention to details. As far as exercising extreme control, I guess it is good to a certain degree, however, I am not too clear yet on how to expand this idea....