The Japanese Five-Minute Habit: Readiness, Respect, and Better Judoka
Japanese culture treats punctuality as readiness, not mere arrival. A practical expression for this is gofun-mae kōdō, literally “five-minutes-before action.” If something begins at 6:00, the goal is not to walk in at 6:00. The goal is to have already arrived, completed necessary preparations, and be ready to begin at 6:00. It is a ...











