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Why no looting in Japan?

caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com

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Re: Why no looting in Japan?

#151

Post by danssig »

kragen wrote: post #119
Florin_Andrei wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By all means, please do elaborate.

I was thinking the same thing. Modern Japanese culture looks very negatively at people who put their own interests ahead of everybody else's, to an extent that you probably can't imagine if you haven't been there, and this is backed up by very low levels of inequality. I remember a news program I was watching in our Japanese class in, uh, probably 1992. A couple of policemen were interviewing a distraught convenience…

>Whatever the cause, though, people from the US almost universally think of lawbreaking as a common and often harmless activity

This is to be expected as laws never seem to come off the books, they just stop being enforced. So, in other words, you're probably always breaking the law in the US anyway because some laws even conflict with each other.

Re: Why no looting in Japan?

#152

Post by geden »

lurker14 wrote: post #117
mbreese wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My current hobby is to make a visible point of calling out litterers and picking up their litter if they don't (especially cigaretes). So far, I've gotten ignored a lot, a couple of sheepish looks or mutterings, and I've been assaulted once (after returning a dropped cigarette to the owner, she threw the coffee drink at me, littering further.) I strongly exhort all decent people to make a point of transmitting their…

That approach is a risky one:

a) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6947744.stm

b) You are directly trying to impose your value over someone else's value, with the assumption that you are correct. One has to be very careful sure you are not just projecting your frustration at the littering. What they are doing is completely correct for their worldview, which has a boundary round about where their clothing is.

If someone litters at all then they probably haven't much of an awareness outside of their own egocentric POV and it seems quite unlikely that a single intervention by yourself is going to change that, unless they are a kid of less than ~ ten years of age.

I like to smile and pick the litter up as a gift. If they notice they notice, if they don't they don't.

Re: Why no looting in Japan?

#153

Post by krig »

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Just because there are no news reports about looting doesn't mean it's not going on. The social difference may be in how news are reported, not in how people cope with disaster. I'm not saying that's what is going on, just saying that the statement "there is no looting in Japan" is taken as fact without any closer examination, which is a very unscientific approach.

Re: Why no looting in Japan?

#154

Post by krig »

krig wrote: post #153

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Just because there are no news reports about looting doesn't mean it's not going on. The social difference may be in how news are reported, not in how people cope with disaster. I'm not saying that's what is going on, just saying that the statement "there is no looting in Japan" is taken as fact without any closer examination, which is a very unscientific approach.

Also, from the photos of the stricken areas that I've seen; what are you going to loot? Everything is destroyed, there is no way to get around, there are rescue teams working around the clock. It's not a situation where houses were flooded but remain mostly intact. There are no houses anymore.

Photos of empty store shelves are from areas outside the disaster zone where people are preparing for a possible radiation disaster where they would be unable to go out of their homes for days. That's not a situation that is conductive to looting.

Re: Why no looting in Japan?

#155

Post by vacri »

jules wrote: post #4

A guy in my class parked a shiny bike not locked for a month. After a month when he came back it was still there. The chances of this happening in Amsterdam are very slim. Even if you only lock your bike to something with a big chain somebody with a metal cutter will come and get it if the bike is shiny. And better lock both of your wheels and the frame through the chain or else you end up with a bike without wheels.…

The saddle is just as easily locked - get a light chain and a padlock, wrap it around one of the underwires of your saddle.

As for 'steering wheel'... a bike that unusual is asking to be stolen by a curious enthusiast :)

Re: Why no looting in Japan?

#156

Post by locopati »

po wrote: post #75
nandemo wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nobody has to lock their bikes, Wait, you live in Tokyo, don't you? (I think we met at one of the meetups) Everybody locks their bikes here, and even so bycicle theft is common (well, at least compared to the other types of crime). My own bycicle was stolen while I was out of the country for a couple of weeks... That said, I understand that's not the main point of your comment.

Yes, people lock their bikes: they all have that built in wheel lock thing. It's not like it's a perfect utopia. People are actually very careful about that. Nobody rides around with the giant NYC-style bolt-cutter proof chain like a belt though. You couldn't even have a $1000 bike in NYC but you see them all the time here. There is definitely some theft and crime but it's definitely less. Also, the biggest bike thie…

A bit of an exaggeration on 'you couldn't even have a $1000 bike in NYC'. I have one and lock it up outside - I see plenty of them locked up around town. But, yes, they're all locked with thick chains and heavy locks, and the seat should be locked to the frame as well if you want to keep that too. Having renters insurance is good too since that will cover you if your bike is stolen.

Re: Why no looting in Japan?

#158

Post by vacri »

funthree wrote: post #3

How about because the Japanese have been living on that island for what, 30,000 years? I think they have a sense of longevity in their culture that we could all really learn from.

Africans have been in Africa since the dawn of humankind. Do you think there'd be so many 'wallet' stories as in this thread if we were talking about Africa?

Re: Why no looting in Japan?

#159

Post by vacri »

michaeldhopkins wrote: post #19
olivercameron wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So have the people of England, what's your point?

No, they have not. Roman Briton was a different society than pre-Roman Briton. The Anglo-Saxons came about 1500 years ago and nearly completely replaced the Britons, genetically and culturally. The Norman invasion was about 950 years ago and greatly changed Anglo-Saxon culture, although not as much as the AS changed post-Roman Briton. There were several other invaders (Danes, etc.) as well. By contrast, the Japanese…

Egyptians have been a distinct ethnic group along the Nile river for longer than the Japanese have been where they are. Let's not attribute magical properties to long-lived cultures.

Re: Why no looting in Japan?

#160

Post by jules »

vacri wrote: post #155
jules wrote: post #4

A guy in my class parked a shiny bike not locked for a month. After a month when he came back it was still there. The chances of this happening in Amsterdam are very slim. Even if you only lock your bike to something with a big chain somebody with a metal cutter will come and get it if the bike is shiny. And better lock both of your wheels and the frame through the chain or else you end up with a bike without wheels.…

The saddle is just as easily locked - get a light chain and a padlock, wrap it around one of the underwires of your saddle. As for 'steering wheel'... a bike that unusual is asking to be stolen by a curious enthusiast :)

My bike doesn't have this, although my racing bike does. Unfortunately racing bikes as made in such a way that you can detach parts easily in a couple of seconds...so it's really necessary to bring two locks or one very long one to lock everything.
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