Boston, MA

Today’s post will be a quick one as I’m still reeling from my 2-week trip to Asia, but I thought I’d make some interesting personal observations comparing the cities of my home and my homeland.

Boston vs. Manila, Philippines: Right away, you notice that downtown Manila is crowded, polluted, has WORSE traffic than you can ever imagine in Boston and you have to deal with all types of vehicles…from man-powered bicycles with sidecars to the truly authentic Filipino jeepneys. HOWEVER, compared to Boston, Manila-ites use their horns for only 2 reasons - to let you know they are passing you and to warn bicycles or motorcycles that they are getting too close. Never have I heard a horn used in a malicious manner, even with getting cut off or merging a little TOO close (for my comfort anyway). It is truly easier going and friendlier there which is amazing to believe considering the traffic can be gridlocked even at midnight. BTW…taxi ride to Manila airport, I heard no horns. On the taxi back home from Logan, I heard four with two being because the taxi driver took, oh “3″ milliseconds instead of the allowed “1″ millisecond to go when the light turned green.

Boston vs. Tokyo, Japan: I used the railway system a lot more in Japan, so I can’t really comment on vehicular traffic, but comparing their subway system vs. the T, the famed Japanese efficiency was witnessed. I saw a lot of people “merging” in ticket lines (”cutting” is more what we could call here in Boston), but no one complained, no one raised voices or even cared that they were cut. It made me realize that if someone cuts you in line, so what? You didn’t get to the ticket machine 20 seconds earlier. Is that such a big crimp in your day?

Conversely, waiting in line for a lunch buffet, 3 middle-aged Japanese ladies inadvertently cut in line, not realizing the start of the line was a few feet behind them. When they realized it from seeing us being ushered in, they immediately realized their mistake, actually bowed to us, stepped out of line and proceeded to the back. Now, would that have happened in Boston or any other American city?

Boston, Manila, Tokyo, Philippines, Japan, jeepney