Homework 4

Well since I know what all these proverbs really mean I suppose I should say something about my experience with time in Japan. Something strange that I have noticed since starting to work here. It is said that time is very important to most Japanese. Trains are always on time. Meetings , parties etc always start AND END on time. Schedules are always full. But why is it that whenever I make arrangements to meet with (Japanese) friends they're always a few minutes late? It doesn't bother me, but it seems to be different from what I would expect. Also (and this is something that I really don't understand) why do almost all university classes start 5-10min late? At university in America, if we had to wait too long for the professor to show up, we would just leave, but I have seen students wait for as much as 15 minutes for the professor to get there. I guess it just puzzles me sometimes how the Japanese are very strict about time sometimes, but very loose about time at other times.