When I worked in Thailand as a locally hired employee, I often encountered situations where I realized that many of the “commonly mentioned differences between Japan and overseas” were, in fact, true. Looking back now, I’ve come to see that these differences are not merely cultural. They can all be explained by a single underlying principle.
Let’s start with something simple: water at restaurants. In Japan, water is free. In Thailand, it’s not. That said, since tap water isn’t drinkable in Thailand and people normally drink RO water or bottled water, this difference didn’t feel too strange.
But the real issue is toilets.
Public toilets are extremely scarce in Thailand. Thai food tends to cause softer stools compared to Japanese food, so knowing where toilets are located becomes a matter of survival. Convenience stores generally do not open their toilets to the public. Train stations don’t have them either.
So what do you do? In Bangkok, you rely on department stores, supermarkets, and hotels. Interestingly, Thailand has a peculiar rule: clean toilets are free, dirty toilets cost money. There is literally a person sitting at the entrance collecting fees. When I lived near an industrial zone, the number of toilets was so limited that I depended entirely on my home, my workplace, and—if commuting by car—the gas-station convenience stores.
For me, the luxury mall Emporium, directly connected to BTS Phrom Phong Station, was essentially a “toilet facility.” Even MBK, famous among tourists, used to have someone collecting toilet fees. When that system disappeared, I was honestly shocked.
Then there are vending machines. Japan is filled with them. Thailand has almost none. You might see a few at airports, but that’s about it. People often say Japan’s vending machines exist because “Japan is safe,” but plenty of safe countries don’t have vending machines. So safety alone cannot explain it.
Another example: when I recently had a fever over 39°C, I went to the hospital. The diagnosis was a bacterial infection, not COVID or influenza. I was prescribed antibiotics—but along with them came a huge set of “bonus medications”: stomach medicine to reduce side effects, probiotics for diarrhea, and more.
I wondered: Modern medicine says antibiotics alone should be enough. Why am I getting so many extra drugs? Isn’t this contributing to rising medical costs?
In Nordic countries, which have health insurance systems similar to Japan’s, antibiotics are prescribed far less frequently, and additional “side-effect prevention drugs” are almost never given.
So where does this difference come from?
Now, let’s list the uniquely Japanese phenomena:
Free water at restaurants
Free and clean public toilets
Vending machines that are never vandalized
Generous, sometimes excessive, medication packages
At first glance, these seem unrelated. But once you introduce a single hypothesis, everything aligns.
Japan’s institutions are built on a “Goodwill OS” (性善説OS)
Japan’s systems operate on the assumption that people are fundamentally good.
Once you adopt this premise, the following suddenly makes perfect sense:
Goodwill OS (People are basically good)
Japanese toilets: not vandalized, not stolen from (even toilet paper remains untouched)
Japanese vending machines: not destroyed, not robbed
Free water in restaurants: not abused
Japanese healthcare: assumes people won’t overuse the system → doctors “generously” add extra medications out of goodwill
A Goodwill OS optimizes society under the assumption that “people won’t exploit the system.” As a result, social costs stay low and services tend to become abundant—even excessive.
Meanwhile, many countries operate on a “Suspicion OS” (性悪説OS)
Suspicion OS (People are basically untrustworthy)
Toilets: vandalized or stolen from → only minimal installations
Vending machines: destroyed or robbed → not installed
Water in restaurants: charged to prevent misuse
Healthcare: assumes overuse → medications and services kept to a minimum
A Suspicion OS optimizes society under the assumption that “people will exploit the system.” This drives costs up and pushes services toward the bare minimum.
Different “initial settings” lead to fundamentally different social outcomes
Goodwill OS → low-cost society with abundant services
Suspicion OS → high-cost society with minimal services
Once you adopt this OS-based perspective, the differences between Japan and other countries become strikingly coherent—far beyond what culture or safety alone can explain.
Next Step
How do the Goodwill OS and Suspicion OS manifest in other domains—administration, education, transportation, taxation, corporate culture?
From here, the task is to trace how these OS-level divergences shape the entire structure of society.
Link：English ver.
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