solidarity seems especially strong in Japan itself. Perhaps even more impressive than Japan’s technological power is its social strength, with supermarkets cutting prices and vending machine owners giving out free drinks as people work together to survive. Most noticeably of all, there has been no looting, and I’m not the only one curious about this.
Read the article
yes, I applaud the businesses that stayed open, even in the face of the dangers and uncertainty. Then again employees in these stores are well compensated and generally make a career staying with the same company. So employee and employer have the same goals and feel a sense of duty to be open as a public service.
My wife and I were at Katrina with a major relief org. The looting was bad enough the scamming after was even worst. As far as the Japanese disaster, and the lack of looting, not a whole lot of deep investigation required.
The idea that there is little crime and corruption in Japan is false. The only way you would know if there was a lot of crime in Japan is if you were a victem, a criminal or a cop. Victems tend to blame themselves hence why the suicide rate is so high in Japan.
I would say there isn’t a lot of looting for two reasons. One is there are few homes and apartments left in the area. A criminal just has no place to stash the goods. The second reason is the place are very small so even if somebody could stash stuff, there is little a person can stash in something as small as a three man tent already full of furniture. The third reason is the Japanese are minimalists anyhow. The financial damage to Japan is estimated at $180 billion with $35 billion in insured property. The 1994 Northridge earthquake estimate was $37.5 billion and I was there after the earthquake going to school. The visual damage was far lighter than what hit Japan. The cost of Katrina was estimated at $125 billion. The disasters in the U.S. cost more on scale just because the U.S. citizens had more stuff to destroy.
Simple. It’s a matter of their social system. In America, we breed violence and economic inequality–last time I heard we were on the level of Guatemala–Japan doesn’t.
Hurricane Katrina : Cast of characters.
Japanese Tsunami: Caste of character.
Because kids in Japan are still taught RESPECT for others, something sorely LACKING here these days….. I’m not going to talk racial differences.. THOSE speak for themselves… perhaps, as someone said on another thread here, the level of intelligence has a factor in that…. again, look at who “loots” here.. who “BURNS” cities, cars because a BASKETBALL TEAM won a game….. IQ is very important! And lack thereof, puts you back into the “caveman class”… like it, or not!
@Liberal1 (objectivity):
Social system? I contend that it isn’t the system, but rather the social responsibility displayed by the people. Not very many Japanese children and teenagers grow up in single-parent homes, and those that do, do so typically because one parent has died.
http://fww.org/famnews/single-parents.html
Contrast that with the U.S. where about 26% of the roughly 73 million children here live in a single-parent home.
Roughly one-half of all in-mates in U.S. prisons came from single-parent homes.
I don’t believe that it has anything to do with some kind of social system, particularly where you have injected some kind of fairy-tale labor story into your comments. Family is important to the Japanese, and they treat others with respect, as do their children.
@gregory_dittman: Of course there’s crime in Japan, especially white collar crime; many street thugs, however, get absorbed into the Yakuza and other gangs and don’t prey on your average citizen going about his daily business.
I always felt safe in Japan. You can find vending machines in the most obscure location and know it’s safe from vandalism. There just isn’t the same kind of criminality and mentality that you get here.
They also value the communal harmony over the needs of the individual and are a homogeneous people. Respect, honor….Times have been changing; but traditionally, the Japanese operate on a shame/guilt culture.
Comment on the article by solon:
Comment on the article by loggy:
I remember stories of how someone would lose his wallet on a train; he’d come back hours later to find it and it would still be there. No one wanted to even touch it or turn it in, because they didn’t want to put the person who lost his wallet under obligation, nor be burdened by it.
@Liberal1 (objectivity):
What you know about Japan would fit on the head of a pin. Do you get paid by the post for posting unintelligent talking points?
That we would find this odd to begin with is a possible clue to the answer.
I didn’t find it odd at all. I found it odd that others did.