While seeing new cultures forms of expression while traveling is always stunning, sometimes my favorite elements are the small things. From the bottle deposit recycling system in Germany (Pfand) to the free water at restaurants in the states, these minuscule differences often leave the biggest impressions.

Recently in Japan, my host family showed me that you can de-select a floor in Japanese elevators by double pressing the button. I had pressed a button on accident, and much to my amazement, they were able to simply undo my error. Something that at least to my knowledge, is not usually possible in either North America or Europe.

Although a small change, the design certainly has very practical uses for what I imagine is a marginal increase in cost of the elevator. If anyone knows of this feature‘s common use in any other countries please let me know, I‘m curious to see where it‘s common practice and where it is not.

In any case, this design is one of the features that has stuck with me most since leaving Japan. While the big, flashy differences are often things we expect to see, the unexpected minutia can sometimes impress us the most, serving as a reminder of the value diverse ways of thinking add to the world.

###

Photo is skylight of an elevator in Tokyo Skytree. My Tokyo host family was kind enough to take me up, and the view was quite good, even despite the heavy fog obscuring Mt. Fuji.