"G" is for "Gaman"

In Japanese there is this word "gaman" which basically means "to endure." The idea of gaman is so rooted in to the culture here that it is hard to explain, but has been so much a part my experience that I feel I must try my best to do so.
My first taste of the gaman mindset was biking to work in my first rainy season. I would show up to the office or to school looking like I just jumped ship and swam myself there. I was thinking "This is torture. I hate this." And yet, I did it. I had to do it because there just were no other options. I haven't quite mastered teleportation yet and taxis are too expensive to take every day. I had to gaman.
During the summers, Japan tries its best to conserve energy by turning off lights and air conditioning (even when it's 30 degrees Celsius outside). The other ALTs and I would bike to the office, sit in pools of our own sweat because they won't turn the air on before 10:00, while holding ice packs on our pressure points and sitting in front of the fan. Then they turn the air off again in the afternoon. Why do we have to suffer the heat when there is a perfectly good air conditioning system in place? Hard for my spoiled American self to understand, but it is perfectly normal for my Japanese co-workers. I think they feel that it's okay, as long as we are all gaman-ing together. It's just the way it is done.
I see this in so many places, in so many ways. I sometimes think to myself  "wouldn't it be easier/nicer if they did it a different way instead?" I have realized, though, that the daily struggles of Japanese lifestyle are part of the culture and Japan wouldn't be the same without it.
That said, I still believe hot water in the school bathrooms would drastically improve the winter experience here. ^_^