One of the services non-Japanese residents in Japan admire is express home delivery. With Japanese express home delivery, items are not just picked up at your home, but it’s also possible to pay by cash on delivery and designate an arrival time. In addition, if the expected package does not arrive on schedule, you will be able to find out where it is by phoning the delivery company. The other day I had an opportunity to talk with Marco, a young man who came from South America to Japan, and our conversation turned to this topic. “My country, too, has home delivery service, but I’m impressed by the Japanese service,” he said. And he continued, “Recently, a package was delivered when I was out of the house, and an absent contact notice was put in my postbox.” I said, “Surely they do this in all countries?” Then Marco said, “Yes, but there isn’t a service that redelivers at a time to suit me when I call the telephone number written down.” I was surprised that he is impressed by a service which is regarded by Japanese as something to be expected. Sometime later, I got a message from Marco on my answerphone saying “Call me back please.” Thinking that something had happened to Marco, I called him at once. He had this to say. “I subscribe to a Japanese newspaper for my Japanese studies, but recently went for a one week long trip. When I told a friend about this, he said, ‘The newspapers will pile up in your postbox and it’ll be easy to tell you’re away; you’ll be a target for thieves.’ Taking his advice, I instructed the newspaper delivery company to stop delivery during my trip.” Then, he continued to explain excitedly. “On the day I returned from my trip, a bag containing the newspapers from that interval was hanging on the entrance doorknob. On the bag was written, ‘Welcome home. We kept your newspapers. Thank you for reading.’” I told Marco, “I understand you were touched by Japanese out of home services, but you should know that when the person you want to speak to is out, in Japan it is good manners to call again.” (From February issue, 2014 / 2014年2月号より）