"You have to put yourself in the client’s shoes. For example, if the customer says, 'I want to eat curry, could you prepare it for me?' You have to think about why they said that."
- Naoyuki Arai in "We talk to a real Japanese butler about life as the chief of staff of a household【SoraInterview】"

Omotenashi (おもてなし) is a Japanese expression to describe the concept of hospitality. It is commonly seen in the service industry in Japan, whether it is a waiter, chauffeur, or even a secretary. Right off the bat, you might be wondering, "What makes it distinct compared to any other kind of hospitality from around the world?" To that, dear author, I must answer with one word: mindfulness. It is tricky to properly describe what does mindfulness entail in one's profession and how exactly to measure it, which is why I think it is best to take a look at an example directly.

Meet Naoyuki Arai, an experienced butler (yes I know, it might sound silly) who has a field experience of over 8 years and has written a book about it. I'm taking an example through the lens of a butler because in all of our mind, we might think this is quite possibly the extreme spectrum of hospitality. But, that could be a good thing for us to clearly see why does it matter. In an interview, Arai has answered to 17 different questions; let's take a short look at a question that's very relevant in our case, in which he answered.

The most essential thing you could think of is probably the most important thing in this profession; Arai has fortunately an answer to that, and it goes on like this:

"You have to put yourself in the client’s shoes. For example, if the customer says, “I want to eat curry, could you prepare it for me?” you have to think about why they said that.

In that instance, you won’t instantly go and start preparing curry; you’d first interact with the client by asking, “Are you hungry and would like to eat something right now? If that’s the case, I can prepare something quick for you, like Cup Ramen.” The client may respond with, “Yes, I’m a little hungry, so if Cup Ramen is quick, then please make it,” or something like that. The simple sentence of, “I want to eat curry,” may have a deeper meaning than appears on the surface, so you always have to bear in mind the client’s true desires."

You can see here that Arai himself has indirectly described what does the mindfulness in the omotenashi entail. This sentiment is shared all around the service industry in Japan, although they might differ in execution; for example, some coffee/tea shops in Japan serves their customer a glass of water and a free wet towel to wipe their hand or face for free. The most important thing to note that we can take from above is to putting yourself in your client's shoes. 

Now, let me ask you something,
Do you remember when this is about "Panduan Ojol Bintang 5?"

I figured that perhaps taking perspective from another culture from another part of the world would make my job easier (and probably more AWESOME) to explain the whys of this guide, and I found that the expression of omotenashi to be very fitting in this case. What makes the profession of a butler so sophisticated in nature is in fact this particular practice of hospitality, and as I've written above, it's absolutely not an exclusive traits among butler, but rather a sentiment in which a large part of the service industry in Japan commonly shares. And I think, this could very well be a common practice in Indonesia too!

We're taking ojol as our main subject because the majority of the population that live in the city are familiar with ojol, and it's a profession that we interact often, if not daily, in our day-to-day life. The impact of practicing this sort of mindset in the service industry could very well impact massively to our quality of life and social harmony which both parties share. 

To conclude this essay, I would like to end it with a quote from Lina Rosliana's study:

"Selain bentuk-bentuk perwujudan yang telah dicontohkan sebelumnya, contoh lain dari manifestasi budaya omotenashi ini tentunya masih banyak lagi yang perlu diketahui agar dapat dipahami bahwa kemajuan teknologi, industri dan era globalisasi tidak perlu menggerus nilai-nilai kemanusiaan dan keramahtamahan."

As always, thank you for reading my essay, dear reader, and I hope to see you again in the very next. This essay is a mandatory essay that every KPB student has to write, but I put extra effort this time so the current freshmen has a better understanding of the sort of study KPB has to offer. If any of K10 read this article, I truly wish it left you a good impression of KPB.

Bibliography:

• Miller, KK. "We talk to a real Japanese butler about life as the chief of staff of a household【SoraInterview】". SoraNews24. December 8, 2015.
• Rosliana, Lina. "OMOTENASHI: BUDAYA KERAMAHTAMAHAN DI JEPANG". E-Journal Universitas Diponegoro. 2018.
• "Omotenashi". Wikipedia.