true.. but if I was ever unfortunate enough to have to go through a natural disaster I would choose Japan over say New Orleans any day.
I agree, though you should probably be arguing with the thadeus instead of SamFisher since he brought up (or made up) the connection. I'd like either of them to connect the dots for me on why income disparity is the culprit.
I don't think homogenousness of the Japanese race has anything to do with it. While I applaud for the restrain and orderliness the Japanese display, which should probably attributed to their culture, the handling of nuclear reactors by the Tokyo electric power company shows us the other side of the Japanese culture. I admire the Japanese culture, but at the same time I think we shouldn't condense it to a simplistic characterization.
Once the looting for food starts out of the necessity, the next thing you know is that looting for jewelry is probably OK too or hurting others for the food is Ok. The Japanese restrain is not a pretentious thing, but a rather a must especially in a drastic situation like the one they are facing.
IIRC, there wasn't much looting after 9/11 either. Unique events make people adverse to severe risk taking. If it were "just a flood", things may be different, or the looting would be common enough for no one to point it out.
I'm not sure I agree with them, but let's just make the most minor effort here. (I would actually agree with those making more of a cultural point here, but again, let's make a minor effort.) --- Take person A and B in Japan. They are in different economic strata, but these strata aren't so far apart. In a disaster, with a loss of normal order and security systems, person B looks in a shop window, but the goods shown there are not so inconceivable for him to someday purchase. There is little motivation to break the window and take the merchandise. Take person C and D in US America. They are in different economic strata, and massively so. Their income disparity covers several orders of magnitude (e.g. $20,000/year versus $20,000,000/year). In a disaster, with a loss of normal order and security systems, person D looks in a shop window at goods that he would never, in several lifetimes of working his pathetic minimum wage job, be able to afford. He has trouble putting food on his table, never mind having fancy shoes or leather jackets (or whatever the hell you want to put in the window.) There is some motivation and maybe even underlying anger at his plight.
I suppose the difference is that there is an aide station set up for the Japanese in that photo to be lined up at while the looting in those pics probably happened during the days of after Katrina when nobody had shown up to help people. That being said, Americans are more likely to loot and it may just be in our culture. Look at how we have glamorized crime over the years in this country; pirates, wild west outlaws, bootleggers, moonshiners, bank robbers, the mafia, pimps, drug dealers, and gang bangers. All of these types of criminals have been celebrated in one form or another by Americans. Whatever it is about us that makes us interested in these criminals is probably what makes us more likely to loot.
more than celebrating crime, a major difference in the cultures is the chase of immediate satisfaction. we got to get it now in the us
While this sounds logical at first sight, it is far from a sufficient explanation. The people they looted from were not $ 20,000,000 earners a year. The people they looted from (e.g. in LA) were the Koreans and Vietnamese who were working hard to make it, the small shop owners. Also, when you look at Haiti and New Orleans, the people they looted from were not the very, very few who own the big mansions. Same thing, they looted from those who worked hard and ran the shops. Basically, it comes down to those with a sense of entitlement and those who are used to getting a free check anyway looting from those who work to earn their money. Those who loot loot because they feel they are entitled to it, for whatever reason, and there is a high correlation to a sense of entitlement towards the state, I would guess - e.g. in the case of the LA looting combined with envy and resentment toward a different group that is doing better.
Yes...it's complicated. But I think it is evident that the different Japanese society and culture is a big part of the reason why you don't see looting there.
erm... no. i had my "mama chary" (bike with a basket and typically used by mothers and old ladies) stolen. bicycles are the one commodity that get stolen often in Japan. I can however leave my macbook pro open at a cafe, get up go to the restroom, take a phone call outside, come back an hour later and find everything where i left it.
Japanese and Chinese people are very different, I find. When I was in Shanghai, I felt like traffic was in Naples, Italy or something...total chaos, people were aggressive, and many people were also quite rude. Japanese people almost seem overly polite, on average...at least at the surface. Koreans are somewhere in between, I guess.
I haven't read the whole thread, so this has probably been mentioned: The cultural aspect is intrinsic to Japan: Samurai/warrior tradition steeped in discipline, self-control, obedience, ritual, etc. There's a 'never quit, never say die' part that is equally important and is what made them such formidable fighters during WWII. All that adds up to what we're seeing now in a time of crisis: a disciplined people exerting self-control in extraordinary circumstances. Bravo to them.
Don't know about overnight, but when I was in Japan, I saw people leave their shopping bags/luggage outside the toilets unattended before going in quite often. I've never seen that in any other country. Another reason not mentioned so far I think is that the Japanese are mentally prepared for these types of disasters, and from young they have earthquake drills in school. The people in Tokyo esp. are just waiting for the next big one, they live there knowing it is a risk.
Their parents - or lack thereof. Sure sometimes good parents can have wayward kids but when you have wide spread issues like that, then there is a serious underlying problem. I can give you going out and getting food or clean water after a week for survival but looting a store within 24 hours for as many Nikes as you can carry out because "if I don't do it someone else will" or "it's owed to me" is what NOs was all about. Trust me, I have some "it's owed to me" relatives and strangely enough they are the least successful ones in the whole enlarged family. huh...wonder why that is? ...insert Chris Rock standup routine here...
Nothing is colder than a quiet long line at gas station in that kind of emergency. They don't have help.
