Stories from Narita Airport in Tokyo

Robert Acker, teaching the globalization course Geography 20 at Berkeley, has the following stories about Japan that I thought were fascinating.

1) He was sitting in the airport, and walked by a store in the airport mall.  There was a sign next to the register, in English and Japanese, that said "I'm out sick for the day.  If you need anything, take it and pay the cashier across the way." 

2) Global clothing companies budget %4 of the annual expenses for shoplifting.  In Japan it's %0.4. 

In his humorous words, "If something's not done in a society, you don't do it.  It's as simple as that."