121–130 of 191 posts
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2330680
They tell their experiences following the earthquake. These snippets of what moved them and touched them during these very trying times are heart-warming.
From the tweets you can see the spirit of "in it together".
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the explanation that there's no looting because the Government's emergency response is very good and people are getting what they need at the shelters.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Now you seem to be attributing safety in Japan not to monoculture but to /Japanese/ culture. Fair enough. Yes I wasn't careful enough in my writing. I mean to say that monoculture allows you to optimize around your values. Lowest common denominator sounds too judgmental but I mean it in the set-theory kind of way. I probably should just have said "common values". what would happen if 10 million Japanese moved to Bang…
I think I grok your meaning of "efficiency" now; I'm definitely not suggesting you are an intolerant person. I would politely challenge, however, the idea that there's roughly equal virtue between Brooklyn-style embraced diversity vs Japan-style conformity. Not only does multiculturalism have a genuine moral attractiveness, which should not be dismissed, it makes for a stronger, more resilient country over the long t…
"No matter how powerful we may be fighting-wise, a system where all the parts react the same way is a system with a fatal flaw. Like individual, like organization. Overspecialization leads to death."
From Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! ; Feynman and a colleague are staying at a traditional Japanese hotel in Kyoto: The next morning the young woman taking care of our room fixes the bath, which was right in our room. Sometime later she returns with a tray to deliver breakfast. I'm partly dressed. She turns to me and says, politely, "Ohayo, gozai masu," which means, "Good morning." Pais is just coming out of the…
I don't think your story represents Japanese people's personality regarding not looting. Read .
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the explanation that there's no looting because the Government's emergency response is very good and people are getting what they need at the shelters.
That wasn't particularly the case during the great Hanshin EQ of 1995. I think they did try to improve gov't response to disasters since then. So, yes, I believe they have faith in the gov't, but it's not because of a stellar record.
Japan takes a lot of criticism for being a closed off culture. After living here for a while I have started to believe that it is necessary to support these values. Multiculturalism means lowest common denominator. There are efficiencies you can gain by having a monoculture. Nobody has to lock their bikes, subways can have nice cloth seats and you can walk around in any neighborhood and be safe. When I came to Tokyo,…
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Nobody has to lock their bikes? I've had three bikes stolen since I first came here in 1998---one of them twice! The cops found one of my bikes a year and a half after it was stolen. Within six months it was stolen again!
There is no theft, and litigation is infrequent. In case of violations of the law, the light offender loses his wife and children by confiscation; as for the grave offender, the members of his household and also his kinsmen are exterminated.
One word : 'Individualism' The article mentions UK floods, Chile and Haiti earthquakes, and Katrina. The UK, Chile, Haiti and US are all 'Individual at the Center' societies. By contrast, Japan is not so 'Individualist' a society. You may have less looting in a place like Japan after a natural disaster of this scale. However, if there is ever say ... oh ... a recession, you will have 100,000,000 people standing aroun…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Nobody has to lock their bikes? I've had three bikes stolen since I first came here in 1998---one of them twice! The cops found one of my bikes a year and a half after it was stolen. Within six months it was stolen again!
Cops actually find stolen bikes in Japan? Whoa, that is different.