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Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property

bbc.com

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Re: Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property

#231

Post by masklinn »

irrational wrote: post #107
Reedx wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article hits on this, suggesting that they are viewed as communal property since they're so abundant, cheap and frequently forgotten. Umbrellas are also an on demand item, so can see how this could evolve as a sort of community solution to the rain problem.

What is the rain problem? I live in the Pacific Northwest where it rains for 9 months out of the year. Our solution is to not use umbrellas at all. Everyone has a waterproof rain jacket.

> Everyone has a waterproof rain jacket.

PNW rain season is winter, summer is fairly dry.

Japan is the opposite, and quite a bit warmer than PNW (at least at Tokyo’s latitude). Sweating is a problem as is in summer clothes, rain jackets would be detrimental to health.

Re: Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property

#233

Post by jhanschoo »

The article attributes this characteristic with Buddhism and collectivism without much comparative evaluation, and I find the explanation utterly unconvincing. For if it is Buddhism and communalism that led to such societal behavior, why is it that its neighboring largely Buddhist and largely collectivist East Asian and South-East Asian neighbors don't exhibit such characteristics? A proper argument in terms of "cultural history" needs to account for comparative evidence.

Interestingly when I encounter this kind of sloppy "cultural history" reasoning it is from a BBC article.

Re: Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property

#234

Post by danwills »

cosmodisk wrote: post #230
disbshdns wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find ppl who wear rain jackets smell (and look goofy)

Do they smell like rain?

Good old 'petrichor'[1], I've never noticed it emanating from a human. I wonder if geosmin is used in any fragrance-products though, or even if specific skin flora (bacteria) might produce it?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrichor?wprov=sfla1

Re: Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property

#235

Post by danwills »

danwills wrote: post #234
cosmodisk wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they smell like rain?

Good old 'petrichor'[1], I've never noticed it emanating from a human. I wonder if geosmin is used in any fragrance-products though, or even if specific skin flora (bacteria) might produce it? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrichor?wprov=sfla1

Sounds like geosmin is actually not that pleasant on its own.. I like petrichor personally but can imagine the earthy aspect on its own might not be entirely pleasant.

Re: Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property

#236

Post by matsemann »

NalNezumi wrote: post #169
nwienert wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Homogenous, nationalistic, small country with high IQ, good education system, high GDP, low levels of immigration, and a culture that emphasizes community. Oh, and lower levels of inequality, relatively, and a more aligned politics/media system that doesn’t foment distrust.

>Homogenous, nationalistic, small country with high IQ, good education system, high GDP, low levels of immigration, and a culture that emphasizes community. I've lived in a Scandinavian country with similar quantities most of my life (well except low levels of immigration) but I can't recall a single time lost property came back, even at a local small town bakery. The experience is very different from my life living…

> I've lived in a Scandinavian country with similar quantities most of my life but I can't recall a single time lost property came back

But my experience is the opposite: Managed to leave my backpack on a bench in the busiest part of Oslo S when taking the train with too much skis and stuff so I forgot it in the struggle. Anyone could have just snatched it walking by, but instead someone saw it was unattended and delivered it at some lost&found so I got it back a week later.

Also in Oslo, I forgot my laptop at the table on an outside cafe. When I came back to fetch it a few hours later it was still where I left it.

So while there probably can be differences between countries, I also think it's too easy to extract too much from one's own experiences, which may not be typical.

Re: Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property

#237

Post by namelosw »

supernova87a wrote: post #15

There are both amazingly good and amazingly bad things about Japanese culture. The shame of being seen to be not honest or respecting people's property leads to amazing responsibility and kindness. But it also leads to people being depressed and feeling constrained not to be able to break out of societal expectations. The very things that make us love Japan, would make you go crazy to live there. So enjoy the privile…

I remember there was a YouTube video making comparison between Japan and China. Of course Japan is much better in many obvious ways, and the comment sections also reflect most people prefer Japan over China.

Then I saw a Japanese commented when he was traveling in China he saw a lot of employees playing with their cellphones during working hours. He said he was all of a sudden really jealous of those people do that while in Japan he has to work all day long without much personal life.

Re: Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property

#238

Post by namelosw »

virtuous_signal wrote: post #10

This smells like a lot of post-hoc rationalization. Collectivism? What about China, which did terribly on this kind of test. Shintoism? Only 3-4% of the population follows that. See https://www.latimes.com/science/la-sci-people-are-honest-los... where the graphic in the middle of the page compares countries. It appears that Scandinavian countries fare best followed by Eastern European. I would be happy to hear what p…

In China, it's very common to leave your property out of sight for minutes and it would be stolen. Collectivism isn't really associated to this topic at all.

Re: Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property

#239

Post by vidarh »

technotony wrote: post #184
hutzlibu wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, but I suppose there are areas with bigger fears of rain. I was hitchhiking through spain and someone who picked me up was a wine farmer, who told stories of people not coming to work, because that day it was raining - in a different village.

I've had people cancel meetings with me in San Francisco 'because it was raining'. To be fair the roads here do become significantly more stressful then, but whenever it happens it feels ridiculous. My theory is that whatever the worst 1-2% of weather days per year becomes a weather excuse anywhere in the world. In the Phillipines it had to be bad typhoon, not just a normal one. In London it was moderate snowfall (th…

I remember my first visit to California. We were in Santa Cruz for work, and got down to the breakfast room in the hotel and the tv news talked about storms. We looked out and it was drizzling. Walked to the office and got slightly damp, and coworkers thought we were crazy.

Re: Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property

#240

Post by rnotaro »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #192
jyounker wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, the Japanese are inveterate umbrella thieves. So much so that you will find locking umbrella racks in many buildings. The pressure has to go somewhere.

I noticed this the last time I was in Tokyo. This is a place where if a stranger saw me drop cash on the sidewalk, they would hunt me down to return it. So what's the deal with all the umbrella locks? TFA explains it.

I accidentally dropped many Yens coins in Tokyo last week and multiple individuals rushed to help me. I was literally shocked.

I also forgot my wallet with my passport beside an arcade game in Akihabara and someone found me inside the arcade to give it back to me before I even noticed it was lost.

Un-locked bikes, products outside of shops, etc.

Their "Trust" system is incredible. It would never work here in Canada.

I really enjoyed my 3 weeks in Japan.

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