Another interesting read!
Seems strange they would punish you extra for going to the local station to pay... makes me wonder if "shaming" is part of the Japanese culture to get people to follow rules and conform...
Another interesting read!
Seems strange they would punish you extra for going to the local station to pay... makes me wonder if "shaming" is part of the Japanese culture to get people to follow rules and conform...
You don't need to wonder, it is.
Losing the face is, like in many Asian countries, a very bad thing. In Japan with its strong social rules (no wonder if you think how packed they are) deviating from what is normal is a big thing.
A lot of youth culture (well, probably everywhere) came into existence with the explicit goal of shocking.
Shaming is a big part of the culture here-public apologies are very common, as is being black-listed, and publicly be-rated.
I don't understand why there would be a different penalty in regard to a parking ticket, though, or why that would be counted against your driving record. I'm still very surprised by that.
I don't know enough about Japanese culture, but maybe the extra charge (given what you said) has to do with paying extra for being "properly" punished for your transgression, vs. skating by on the relative anonymity of mailing it in... a version of "taking your medicine/falling on your sword."
That could be. It could also just be a way to keep people from coming to the station and tying up officers' time, or even a way to keep people from challenging the charge. I don't know.