I feel much the same way, and will admit to finding myself... well, frustrated isn't quite the right word, but it will have to do, with what feels like an incre

I feel much the same way, and will admit to finding myself... well, frustrated isn't quite the right word, but it will have to do, with what feels like an increasingly large number of people that treat the world as if everything in it is disposable. There's a certain joy in caring for things, and the added satisfaction of knowing that well-maintained tools are something you can rely on. And it's not like this really costs you extra time. Sure, it takes a small degree of incremental effort to keep my kitchen organized and clean. But when I cook, I don't need to spend time creating space to work or hunting down ingredients, because everything is where it belongs. This is maybe one of the things that I love about Japan, and also about Germany. In both cultures, people seem to be somehow overall rather thorough about caring for things. Sure, it's not universal, but it's utterly wonderful to be around people that, through habit, make the world around them a little bit better at a time.