Be thoughtful, don’t help others
It seems kind of odd to say that a thoughtful person doesn’t lend a helping hand, but in Japan, this is the way of life. In fact, office workers in our country would absolutely love this tradition since it means nobody should do another person’s job. No brown-nosing and no taking advantage of a junior employee.
In Japan, say that you see a street sweeper going about their business. If you were to offer to help sweep the ground, it would come off as you trying to take their job. They might not take kindly to that gesture, even though you just want to help. So, if you really want to be helpful, let people do their jobs on their own.