discipline, education and culture
> discipline and culture Monoculture
Do you say that with a negative or positive tone ? It's hard to tell from your answer. And if so, why ?
Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property
71–80 of 279 posts
Re: Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property
#72I experienced this while visiting Japan. While doing a transfer on the Shinkansen in Hiroshima, I left my camera bag at a noodle kiosk on the platform (around $3k worth of equipment). Didn't realize it until 2 hours after getting on the next train. When we arrived at our destination, I told my friend we were meeting (a Japanese native) what happened, and she reassured me that it would be right where I left it (said s…
Is it possible the social support structure, education, etc are creating a society where unfortunate people don't have to steal/pawn to make a living?
Shame.
Re: Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property
#73There 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…
Related: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2019/09/02/62-m...
Michele Gelfand on tight vs loose cultures. There's also a link there to her TEDx talk.
Re: Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property
#74Earlier 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.
Immigration has been steadily increasing in Japan.[1] That homogeneity presupposes trust is a right-wing stereotype used to devalue immigrants in a society and justify harsh enforcement. You can find people of every ethnicity in Tokyo, including many half and full Brazilian people that you could mistake for latinos here in the US[2]. 1. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/03/11/national/japan-... 2. https://en.wik…
Go to Japan. Immigration is absolutely nothing like European or American countries.
Re: Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it possible the social support structure, education, etc are creating a society where unfortunate people don't have to steal/pawn to make a living?
We tend to underestimate the effect culture can have. It's also why the Japanese don't litter their cities, despite few garbage bins. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/07/why-japanese-dont-lit...
Yeah, well. Maybe, maybe not. Quoted from a previous discussion:
> I was cycling in Japan for about 2 weeks, just a few weeks ago. I was also impressed in most places by how clean it was, not only in the cities, but more generally speaking about everywhere.
> At some point though, I was cycling along the coast of Mie then Wakayama prefectures, and although the scenery and roads were clean, I had a glance just behind the ramp walk, and realized that behind the trees, in the bush next to the road were hundreds of garbage bags, litter of all sort, really anything, just lying below. There was such a contrast from what my eyes were seeing until, I was shocked.
> In another town several kilometres after (I forgot which place exactly, must have been while cycling up towards Wakayama city), I passed next to a big commercial area on my right. On my left there was a small patch of forest then the sea and again, that forest contained many many plastic bags, full but neatly tied up, every couple of meters or so, for several hundreds of meters.
> I originally thought the first thrashes I saw along the road in the country side where "mistakes", like things flying off the window or pushed by the wind from another place (although there was a lot of garbage anyway). But when I saw these tied up plastic bags, they weren't there by chance, really people throw these bags away on the forest right here. That made me a bit sad, especially since it broke the original image I got.
> (And I haven't spoke about the beaches and seafront all along that peninsula; I wouldn't walk bare foot there).
Re: Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property
#76Little-known tip: in the US, if you happen to find a lost wallet that contains an ID, you can just drop it in the nearest postbox and the USPS has the duty to attempt to return it to its rightful owner. Here's the relevant page of the postal code: https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/507.htm
Re: Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property
#77Little-known tip: in the US, if you happen to find a lost wallet that contains an ID, you can just drop it in the nearest postbox and the USPS has the duty to attempt to return it to its rightful owner. Here's the relevant page of the postal code: https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/507.htm
Given what I've seen and also have personally experienced with postal employees, I wouldn't place much trust in it, for example:
"USPS loses about $1800 of packages from store.rossmanngroup.com :(" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4CCuMg6jXI
Re: Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property
#78It's not quite at the level of Japan, but Aftenposten, which is a newspaper in Norway, conducted a test [1] (translation [2]) in Oslo where they "lost" 20 wallets. 15 eventually returned. Personally I've lost my wallet twice and it has been returned both times. It is nice to be able to trust your fellow citisens somewhat :) [1] https://www.aftenposten.no/okonomi/i/zlOb/slik-gikk-det-da-a... [2] https://translate.goog…
The Toronto Star tried the same thing in Toronto. 15 of 20 were returned. (One minus the cash.)
https://www.thestar.com/life/2009/04/25/we_left_20_wallets_a...
Re: Why Japan is so successful at returning lost property
#79Earlier 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.
Immigration has been steadily increasing in Japan.[1] That homogeneity presupposes trust is a right-wing stereotype used to devalue immigrants in a society and justify harsh enforcement. You can find people of every ethnicity in Tokyo, including many half and full Brazilian people that you could mistake for latinos here in the US[2]. 1. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/03/11/national/japan-... 2. https://en.wik…
>Ethnic groups: Japanese 98.1%, Chinese 0.5%, Korean 0.4%, other 1% (includes Filipino, Vietnamese, and Brazilian)
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/...