From what I've heard many vendors are also giving away their goods, especially food, during the crisis, so it sorta precludes looting doesn't it?
Why no looting in Japan?
81–90 of 191 posts
Re: Why no looting in Japan?
#82This is something that really surprised me about Japanese culture. I went there in 2008 for a study tour and one of the things that really impressed me is how different their attitude towards shared property and public space is. On numerous occasions I saw things where I thought: wow, in my country (The Netherlands) this would totally get abused, vandalized or stolen. Not that my country is not safe or dirty, just th…
> Vending machines are so ubiquitous in Japan that they are an icon in itself
More pertinent example: Several Japanese vending machine companies build into their machines backdoors to dispence products for free in the case of an emergency http://inventorspot.com/articles/vending_machines_japan_offe...
Compare this to the vending machine in the Computer Science department that is always being probed for new attack vectors to allow free products. On the bright side, we do get the latest machines first ;)
Re: Why no looting in Japan?
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
I came here to quote Feynman too, but a different part: This question of trying to figure out whether a book is good or bad by looking at it carefully or by taking the reports of a lot of people who looked at it carelessly is like this famous old problem: Nobody was permitted to see the Emperor of China, and the question was, What is the length of the Emperor of China’s nose? To find out, you go all over the country…
It strikes me as a theory with very poor explanatory power. We've seen many crises in the US as well, and Katrina was an exception . There have been a couple of others within my lifetime, but it's not politically correct to point out what similarities they may have. (I suppose I should point out this isn't a veiled reference to race , it's actually 100% cultural , but it's still not politically correct to discuss.) I…
Sorry, not trying to anger anyone or anything, I am genuinely interested. Where in the US was there a natural disaster of significant scale where there was no looting?
I'm actually from Wisconsin, but was living in Cedar Rapids during the floods, and there was looting there. My neighbor was the cop chasing these guys down. I am just curious how other communities were able to avoid looting.
BTW, Cedar Rapids is in Iowa.
Re: Why no looting in Japan?
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
This actually happened. When we were living in Tokyo my wife lost her wallet. A day later she found that it was sitting in the basket of her bicycle outside our building. This was a busy street in a business district (Nihonbashi) with hundreds of people going past it and it was a large new coach wallet with at least a few hundred in cash. Not that someone wouldn't have eventually stolen it though.
>Not that someone wouldn't have eventually stolen it though. Japan is only nearly Utopian. Let's be careful with the orientalism. The suicide rate[1][2] is one thing that personally bothers me. Japan is fundamentally different from the West, and this has its advantages and disadvantages. [1]: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_count... [2]: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_OE…
[deleted]
Re: Why no looting in Japan?
#85I am surprised nobody mentioned this yet: Japan has a much MUCH lower level of income (and wealth) inequality than the US, Haiti, etc. [1] There are just a lot fewer poor people in Japan. So if your house got leveled by the tsunami, you can go to your friends, relatives, family, etc for a little help because they aren't half impoverished already. I don't mean to demean the theory regarding social differences. I'm sur…
The UN Gini numbers:
Japan: .249
US: .408
Haiti: .592
Aside from media exaggeration of looting, which is almost instant after a disaster where there are significant numbers of black people. Pretty much, the mirror image of this post. Google "looting in Japan" if you want to take a sample of the most racist invective on the internet. I mean, if the Japanese have honor in their blood...
Re: Why no looting in Japan?
#86Looting is the exception in most Western nations, not the rule. I love crime here, don't get me wrong, but how many reports of widespread looting have we ever heard in the US? Rodney King riots, Katrina (and that was exaggerated)... that's about it, right? Massive floods strike Iowa, war breaks out, terrorist attacks, lethal heat waves, Bulls win trophy, none of these calamities cause looting. Yeah, one of those thin…
Wow,
where did you get the idea that no one in Iowa got robbed during the floods?
As a matter of full disclosure, I think I should tell you that I lived there at the time of the flood and had to listen to my neighbor go on and on about what he was dealing with. Neighbor was a cop.
Re: Why no looting in Japan?
#87I'm guessing they haven't run out of food yet. Then there's the "no guns" thing.
Re: Why no looting in Japan?
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
Clear trends: * Southern Europe/Mediterranean/Levantine countries - low suicide rates. * English-speaking/Northern countries/former Communist block in Eastern Europe/Developed Asian countries - high suicide rates. Seems to be related to amount of daylight, climate, stress and competition.
Has anybody else noticed the magical effect of sunlight? A few days ago was the first sunny day of the year. Everyone was very happy.
Magic, or a surge of vitamin D3 in their bloodstreams.
Re: Why no looting in Japan?
#89Man, you guys are just busting out with the exotism in this here thread. "People there carry honor in their blood"...
The original article is definitely full of that sentiment, although the responses here are more measured. Still, why has no one mentioned the fact that there is nothing left to loot in the areas most effected?
I do believe joebananas is referring to this[0] comment, which is indeed on HN:
> Honor is something we can't describe but japanese people carry it in their blood.
Re: Why no looting in Japan?
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
You should have said something to the guy who's kid littered. That's how culture is supposed to work.
Sure... I've thought about that a lot too. You're saying I should have challenged their values with mine. I probably should have said something. And yet I would spend all day long every day in arguments with people who just don't agree with me. I tend to be rather non-confrontational and don't like arguments. Many people can just shrug it off but I get upset by them. In my mind, this is an example of an efficiency ga…
Not that I would have done this either, but you could have just picked up their trash for them. Then the dad would have had to explain to his kid why you were cleaning up their mess. Not too confrontational, but it still gets the point across.