Japan wins for orderly queues

My eldest child is really enjoying going to school abroad. But one micro aggression he is finding hard is the lack of respect for the queue! Allegedly, every day when he lines up for school lunch someone will cut in front of him. This is something that never happens in Japan! Never happens in a school and very rarely happens outside of school either.

I don't think any Japanese person has ever cut in front of me in a queue intentionally. May be it has happened and I don't remember. Occasionally it happens because the person doesn't realize there is a queue. In that situation, if you tell them there is a queue they will apologize profusely and go to the back of the queue.

Another interesting observation about queues in Japan is at the supermarket. You know the way sometimes they open up another till when there is a long line for the tills already in operation. Well in my home country, what happens is 'first come, first served'. If you happen to notice the new till opening before anyone else you are well within your rights to take advantage no matter position you were in the first queue you lined up at!

Meanwhile in Japan, people tend to still follow the existing queue. In other words, they will let the people who were next in line in the original queue, take first place at the newly opened till queue. Sometimes staff will orchestrate this, but even without the staff overseeing it, Japanese people tend to be superior at respecting the order of the queue.

That is one thing we miss when we spend extended periods outside of Japan. Have you noticed this during your time in Japan? Is it different to your home country?