Lesson to learn from Japan in the World Cup

By Joseph Dehinbo

That Japan led Belgium in the ongoing World cup football game by 2 goals up but later conceded 2 goals to give up the lead and eventually lost by 2: 3 to Belgium at the very last moment (94th minute) of the game?

Yet, (and this is the most incredible thing that happened) the Japanese Fans picked up all the wastes items in the stadium areas where they sat to watch the match before leaving, while the Japanese players cleaned the dressing room, leaving the floor spotless and sparkling clean as if it was never used, regardless of their loss.....

They also left a 'THANK YOU' note in Russian for their host?

There's surely something worthy of learning from JAPAN!

A country with a population of 127 million citizens but the 2nd most technologically powerful and the 3rd largest economy in the world. Japan has a GDP of about $4.9 trillion (which is more than the combined GDP of $2.2 trillion for all the African countries with a population of about 1.2 Billion people).

Japan have Shinto and Buddhism as their main religions and with tens of thousands of shrines and temples all over their lands, and yet they demonstrate the highest sense of discipline, responsibility and respect for fellow humans everywhere they go plus an incredible commitment to valuing human life through a sociocultural philosophy called IKIGAI which meaning translates roughly to: 'a reason for living, encompassing joy, a sense of purpose and meaning and a feeling of well-being'. 
We Africans on the other hand with Christianity and Islam that frown at idol worshipping and pray frequently and for long hours as if God needed plenty of words before answering, but we have the ridiculously lowest value for human life, plus we have never been able to rally and unite our people to love each other and develop economically. How would you answer this question today: which religion produces the best behaved and most caring human beings on earth? Jesus answer would be "by their fruits you will recognize them". In the early days of Christianity the answer would have been obvious just by looking at the Apostles and disciples of Jesus. But today, Christianity is divided into thousands of denominations with each denomination claiming superiority over others - this is why it is very difficult for even Christian Association of Nigeria to rally all Christians to a common purpose in Nigeria. Lord Jesus Christ himself said it: "a house divided against itself cannot stand".

JAPAN, a non-Christian and non-Islamic country has taught us Africans some important lessons. Japan was heavily devastated by world war II (the first 2 atomic bombs were detonated in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - it took over 30 years for any grass to grow there), but through it all, with their governments economic policy like restriction on imports to boost exports, and a nationally entrenched business philosophy of continuous improvement of working practices and personal efficiency called KAIZEN, Japan rose from the ashes to become a world giant today with the highest sense of discipline, moral behavior and love for humanity.

Dear 9ja people, don't show me your religion; don't show me how many times you pray in a day to prove to me you love God; rather, show me how you treat people, how you value and respect human life, show me what you're doing to help fellow humans everyday and I will agree you love GOD.

The Christian Apostle James wrote it best: "faith without works is dead". Show me your works and I will tell you your religion.

God bless Nigeria. #babaseun.