Entering an era of collapsing trust

The other day, I read the following tanka poem in The Asahi Shimbun's Asahi Kadan column. It was written by Mikiya Nagao of Osaka, a frequent contributor: "Before I know/ I find myself bracing my legs as I wait for the train/ For someone who might suddenly push my back."

If pushed from behind, a person can easily fall from a train platform. But usually, most of us wait with no concern for personal defense, our backs unguarded in the trust that no one would resort to such outrageous behavior.

Society is built upon such "tacit trust." But a random fatal attack at JR Okayama Station in March, in which an 18-year-old male pushed a total stranger onto the tracks, has shaken that trust.

If paranoia takes over, we will no longer be able to ride trains with a sense of security. Many must share the anxiety described in that poem.

Another scandal, albeit not as serious, has once again hit Osaka restaurant operator Senba Kitcho. The Japanese-style restaurant admitted to serving leftovers to customers.

When you think about it, restaurant food is always prepared behind closed doors. It makes one wonder if Senba Kitcho is not the only restaurant to have done such a repellent thing.

But usually, customers trustingly eat at restaurants and never give a second's thought that such dishonest acts might take place behind their backs.

Here, too, the public's tacit trust has been shaken. If what Senba Kitcho did caused consumers to doubt they can trust all restaurants, even those that do an honest business, Senba Kitcho must accept grave responsibility.

Apparently, the practice started at the behest of the former Kitcho president, who thought it was mottainai (wasteful) to throw away untouched food.

The term means one should not waste things that are still useful. But leftover food scraped from a plate is different--such an act goes against the spirit of the philosophy. Treating food with respect and recycling leftovers to make a profit may appear similar on the surface, but in reality they are fundamentally different.

Today, public trust in our society is growing weaker, going beyond mistrust to create an era of "collapsing trust." A recent Asahi Shimbun opinion poll found 64 percent of respondents agreed that "society has many people who cannot be trusted," while 67 percent said "people only think about themselves."

I don't want to sound pessimistic. But those figures are far too high to just shrug off with the thought that "people are like that."

--The Asahi Shimbun, May 6(IHT/Asahi: May 8,2008)