Japan 2026 – Another Salute to the People We Saw

Composite image of people we saw during our Japan 2026 trip.

The lovely conceit of our 2025 Japan trip (see A Salute to People We Saw and Cleanliness) was that we came home and discovered we'd photographed lots of strangers doing ordinary things: raking bamboo, sweeping, feeding carp, preparing rooms, cooking, even workers holding a screen beside a weed whacker so debris wouldn't hit passersby.

For 2026, we saw more of the same and started thinking about it differently. We still marveled at undamaged public infrastructure, bathrooms without graffiti or smashed mirrors, orderly neighborhoods, and carefully maintained things. But after a second trip, we started thinking more about the people whose work made things seem so effortless to us. We came to realize that it's not just about cleaning; it's about caring. Cleanliness is one visible manifestation of that caring.

One impression that stayed with us was the attention given to shared spaces, places, and things that belong to everyone and no one in particular. We touched on this from another angle in the post Notes on Entropy from a Courtyard in Italy, where we wondered why some people take responsibility for shared spaces while others leave things alone. Our experiences in Japan brought that question back to mind.

Of course, we're seeing Japan through the eyes of visitors. The same expectations of responsibility and consideration that we admire may also carry pressures we don't experience or fully understand. A salute to these people doesn't mean we think Japan is perfect.

We don't know most of the people in these photographs. We didn't ask their names. Some served us food or coffee; others were simply doing their jobs when we walked past. And some were just going about their lives: a woman painting by a lake, a child stepping out of a temple, a priest attending to his duties. They weren't doing anything for us, but their presence was part of what made the places we visited memorable.

They didn't know they were part of our trip. But they were. Thank you.

Also, see the post Japan 2026 Botanical Notes: Trees of Beauty, Memory, and Survival.

Photos in the composite image:

• A girl on the street near Kuromon Market in Osaka
• A winking woman we met at sapta coffee. A very friendly person
• A woman sweeping in Koto City, Tokyo
• An efficient post office in Amanohashidate
• At Sumiyoshi Shrine in Osaka
• Barista at Hario Cafe – Kanazawa
• Bullet train conductor. Pulling into Hiroshima
• Coffee stand MILES COFFEE Onobori. We met this guy the next morning at the other branch of this coffee place. We are loyal if the coffee is good
• Cutting Japanese Black Pine in Amanohashidate
• Dinner at Ochanomizu Hiro - after dinner and figuring out what tea to get
• Docent at the Kanazawa 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art
• Fishing in Miyazu Bay
• Hiroshima Toshogu Shrine - two kids brought for a blessing by their parents (not pictured but nearby)
• Hoop Coffee & Roaster in Osaka
• Izakaya Restaurant Nawanai - roasting ginkgo nuts for us
• Kanazawa Castle Park - cleaning the moat wall
• Kanazawa - child near Seisonkaku Villa
• Kanazawa - tourists dressed as keishas
• Kanazawa Kenrokuen Garden - placing river rocks
• Kanazawa Kenrokuen Garden – sweeping
• Kanazawa Kenrokuen Garden – weeding
• Kanazawa Station
• Kena, owner of Cafe Society in Hiroshima. A remarkable place. Kena is half Korean-Japanese and provides a space for refugees. And good food
• Kuishinbo - okanomiyaki cook
• LiLo Coffee Roaster in Osaka
• Minutes Coffee, Tokyo
• Mukai Sake Brewery in Ine, Japan
• Parking attendant at Ogaki, Japan
• Shaving kelp in a small shop at Sumiyoshi Station
• Shinobazu Pond, Ueno Park, Tokyo
• Side Stand Coffee - Hiroshima.
• Student survey team in Ueno Park, Tokyo
• Sunny Bell Coffee – Kanazawa
• Sunny Bell Coffee – Kanazawa
• Tamago maker at our Amanohashidate Hotel
• Teppanaki guy at Kotaro in Hiroshima
• The Yakult lady restocking a vending machine. Yakult is a Japanese sweetened probiotic milk beverage fermented with the bacteria strain Lactobacillus casei Shirota
• Toshi, owner-cook of an okonomiyaki counter called Ekinishi Padokku. What a character! Loves Italian soccer
• Volunteers trimming roses near the Atomic Bomb Dome
• Window cleaner in Osaka
• Worker for the Shinkansen (bullet train),  making sure it got off to a good start
• Yukigeame Coffee Roastery - pour-over