Cleanliness is Kindness: The Life of a Craftsperson Maintaining the Cleanest Airportin the World
by Haruko NIITSU
Description
This book presents one of the cleaning staff at Tokyo’s HanedaAirport, judged as the cleanest airport in the world two years in a row, and how the daughter of a Japanese orphan left behind in China became Japan’s best cleaner.
A story selected for inclusion in Japanese junior high school ethics textbooks!
<Contents>
Haruko Niitsu is a cleaning professional, featured twice on the NHK television show The Workstyles of Professionals. She is part of the cleaning staff that helped Haneda Airport be selected as “cleanest airport in the world” in 2013, 2014, and 2016, and today focuses on developing the next generation of cleaning staff. Coming to Japan as the child of a Japanese orphan left behind in China, she arrived unable to speak the language, but nonetheless found her ideal job as a cleaner, a job she has maintained for over twenty-five years.
This book provides a close-up on Ms. Niitsu’s life and her professionalism as a cleaner. In describing half of her lifetime, it provides a sense of her pride in her work as a craftsperson.
<Table of Contents>
Introduction: My place is at the airport
Chapter 1: From China to Japan: “Just who am I?”
Chapter 2: A fateful decision: “Cleaning was all I could do.”
Chapter 3: Finding my path: “Finally, I know my destiny!”
Chapter 4: A step toward becoming a professional: “I’ll become a building cleaning technician.”
Chapter 5: Becoming number one in Japan: “Finally, I could give something back.”
Chapter 6: The death of a benefactor: “Why did you have to leave me?”
Chapter 7: Cleanest airport in the world, two years in a row: “Keeping this airport clean—this is my mission.” Conclusion
More Information
Author Biography
Haruko Niitsu is an employee of JATEC Co., Ltd. She was born in 1970 in Shenyang, China to a Chinese mother and a father who was a Japanese orphan left behind in the Second World War. Unable to speak Japanese when her father brought the family back to Japan, she found work as a cleaner. In 1995 she took a position at JATEC, a job she has maintained for over twenty-five years. In 1997 she became the youngest first-place winner in the All-Japan Building Cleaning Competition, after which she became a cleaning instructor. In addition to currently being a cleaning technique instructor for Haneda Airport’s Terminal 1, Terminal 2, and International Terminal, she is the company’s only “Environmental Meister,” contributing to the overall maintenance of the Haneda Airport environment and helping to train the next generation of world-class cleaners.
Poplar Publishing Co., Ltd
POPLAR Publishing Co., Ltd., a leading independent publisher of children's books in Japan, has been in business for more than 70 years. As it started as a children's books publisher, it has always tried to provide children with enjoyable and exciting books. Today, the company's goals remain unchanged: everything it publishes should be enjoyable and enrich people's lives.
View all titlesBibliographic Information
- Publication Date March 2016
- Orginal LanguageJapanese
- ISBN/Identifier 9784591149409
- Publish StatusPublished
- Original Language Title清掃はやさしさ世界一清潔な空港を支える職人の生き様
- Dimensions188 x 128 mm
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