Youkai Apato has alternated back and forth between a couple of different settings – namely Yuushi’s school and (mostly) Kotobuki-so.  As it’s done so, it’s tended to be quite different tonally in each, which has added an interesting element of variety to the series even if the apartment episodes have almost always been the best.  But here it introduces a third place, basically unexplored to this point – Yuushi’s work, Kanzaki Transport.  And given how much of a priority Yuushi places on his job (working all three days of a holiday weekend in this case) it’s quite an important part of his life.

One thing anyone coming from America notices after spending any length of time in Japan is the great difference in attitude towards “menial” labor.  I won’t claim that most Japanese (many young, but not as high a percentage as you think) who work in places like MacDonalds, Kuroneko (a delivery service much like the one depicted here) or a konbini go home raving about how much they love their jobs.  But during the act of work, the degree of professionalism is head and shoulders above what you’ll see in the States.  From the perspective of the customers these employees are every bit as serious and dedicated as so-called “professionals” – and the result is a stark difference in the quality of service.

There’s an attitude difference in play here, no question – and thus, I’m not sure an episode like this one wouldn’t seem odd to someone who hasn’t experienced that first-hand.  As it so often does, too, Youkai Apato makes a point of stressing the value of experience.  No matter how earnest and sober a youngster like Yuushi might be, there are certain things – not least about the subtleties of human social interaction in the workplace – that can only be learned through experience (with an assist from older friends and family who share theirs). This comes into play when Yuushi is put in charge of two newbies who are (almost inevitably) older than he is, though not by much.

This idea of “speaking with the body” that Isshiki and Satou speak of is another one that might sound a bit off to Western ears – I don’t think it’s the way we’d phrase the notion, for starters.  And even more than most places (and make no mistake,  it’s important everywhere) non-verbal communication is critical in a culture where saying what’s appropriate rather than what you really mean is arguably the entire basis of the language.  It’s no surprise that these college boys don’t immediately take to being guided by a kid younger than they are, but there’s also the matter of this likely being their first real job.  And it’s up to Yuushi to try and puzzle them out – whether they’re absorbing what he’s telling them (they are, mostly) and how to bring them out of their shell.

I think there may be something to Isshiki’s suggestion that information means more when it’s something you have to break a little sweat to dig up, rather than have it be presented to you with a click (as current events would corroborate).  I also think that in an age where so much communication for the young is virtual, the art of “reading” people may be even harder to pick up than it used to be.  As for the crisis which ends up tying things together, well – I think it’s pretty unimaginable in an American transport company.  To have one incorrectly shipped box out of 300 be such a disaster – for the staff to be this mortified, for apologies to flow profusely – this is something very Japanese, I think.  “Upright” is the right word for the day, I think, because it describes how Japanese people approach their responsibilities as well as any I can think of.