Japan disaster, no looting? Do we in the west need to re-evaluate our opinions of Japanese society?

[Trolldor]

The Japanese....


A culture with a great deal of sexual repression and normalisation of the sexualisation of minors in mainstream media.

...No. I don't think we have anything to learn from the Japanese. Their respect-by-obligation is nothing but submission to a doctrine. Respect is earned, not deserved.

That is called decorum. You know, where you want to be presentable instead of walking into a civilized ball room during a ball in a wife beater, sweatpants, sandals, and messy hair.

You are so very wrong.
It's a hierarchy. Positions of superiority and inferiority. It has nothing to do with 'decorum' and everything to do with the feudal system Japan has yet to grow out of.

Decorum has nothing to do with position or submission, and again decorum is something you display to somebody that has demonstrated they've earned your respect.

 

[bader0]

It's a different type of society. Currently western society puts the emphasis on individuals while Japan is traditionally more clan based and historically speaking only swapped recently. When something like this happens they respond much like an ant's nest in that each will do their part for the greater good. Of course this is just a sweeping generalization but still a seemingly correct one.

this, japan is currently becoming much more westernised but generally in japan it are taught to worry more about how you as a person can contribute to society whereas in more westernised countries its more about how you can benefit from your society.

 

[Trolldor]

The Japanese....


A culture with a great deal of sexual repression and normalisation of the sexualisation of minors in mainstream media.

...No. I don't think we have anything to learn from the Japanese. Their respect-by-obligation is nothing but submission to a doctrine. Respect is earned, not deserved.

That is called decorum. You know, where you want to be presentable instead of walking into a civilized ball room during a ball in a wife beater, sweatpants, sandals, and messy hair.

You are so very wrong.
It's a hierarchy. Positions of superiority and inferiority. It has nothing to do with 'decorum' and everything to do with the feudal system Japan has yet to grow out of.

Decorum has nothing to do with position or submission, and again decorum is something you display to somebody that has demonstrated they've earned your respect.

Decorum is defined as a dignified behavior or posture with no mention of respect. If acting with dignity is feudal, then trailer parks are the most socially advanced neighborhoods the world has to offer [sarcasm].

Respect is defined as a relation to one another. This doesn't mean anything without context. You speak of respect as if its the streets of a slum. Hierarchy is the basis of all of our progress, government. Without government, we would be hunter gatherers speaking with grunts. Hierarchy is the basis of which civilization springs from, even the lowest tribe.

You need to spend a little more time reading up on history.

 

[thejboy88]

I've always liked the Japanese.

Their history, their culture, their work ethic, their popular culture, all of it.

And as for their attitude regarding disasters, if the Japanese have taught the West one thing, it's that they can come back strong from whatever terrible things is thrown their way.

 

[OtherSideofSky]

I could care less about whether or not people are looting in Japan. I'm looking at the worldly side of things. Remember there's a big nuclear reactor in danger here if that goes we're looking at a potential repeat of Chernobyl here.

Please learn at least a little about how nuclear reactors work before you go spreading alarmist nonsense. A light water reactor like the ones in Japan cannot undergo the process which caused the Chernobyl disaster. It is physically impossible. It could still get pretty bad, but nothing even approaching that level. It is also very unlikely to produce anything capable of spreading beyond Japan and its immediate vicinity, and even that looks unlikely.

Also, most (if not all) of this thread is meaningless pop-psych (or maybe pop-anthropology? Dear god, the horror is spreading). Any real understanding of the way the incident progressed and its connections to culture will come from a thorough analysis of first-hand data by experts.

 

[Frankster]

snip

I agree, but before it becomes a love fest, I know I would get a very different view about the Japanese from anyone who was Japanese POW during WWII. Just saying.....

That you would, my great grandfather was the governor of Dien Bel Phu or w/e it was called, and my grandfather served there under him.

To make a long story short, the japanese commited a lot of horrors down there (though probably not as much as in china, massacres which japanese STILL don't like to talk about or even acknowledge) and my great grandfather had to surrender his fort to avoid his men being completely wiped out (an act which was ultimately rewarded by one of his vietnamese soldiers sneaking back in and retrieving his body to give it a proper burial), the japanese colonel demanded he surrender his daughter (my grand mother) or he would be gutted on the spot.

My great grandfather was a brave man, didn't even blink as he told him to go screw himself (va te faire foutre sale jap!) and got gutted, along with several more of his men to be made an example of to the rest.

The prisoners of war were then sent to a POW camp and would likely have died there in miserable conditions had my grandfather and other soldiers not broken out and escaped, not to mention no one would ever have known about it.

I like japanese culture and admire the people for a lot of things. But they ain't angels, and they got skeletons in their closet just like any other country.

 

[Lord Honk]

Well, I'll just say that this is a trait that I wouldn't mind seeing more of around the world. Right now, I don't care about any good or bad japanese traits but this one, and I like it; no matter what the reason for respect is, I like that it's there. I don't even care if it's real respect or plain getting-used-to-being-respectful. There's no looting, that's a good thing in my book.

 

[Vandenberg1]

the govt. was in there fast helping people.
because the people saw the presence of the govt and saw they were being helped then there was no chaos or looting.
In Katrina, there was little show of govt help, that is why ppl thought they were on their own, and therefore fuck everyone else

Poverty = lack of care for others. Americans culturally don't trust or like each other, and were taught that we are all number 1 and should only look out for number 1.

 

[Trolldor]

The Japanese....


A culture with a great deal of sexual repression and normalisation of the sexualisation of minors in mainstream media.

...No. I don't think we have anything to learn from the Japanese. Their respect-by-obligation is nothing but submission to a doctrine. Respect is earned, not deserved.

That is called decorum. You know, where you want to be presentable instead of walking into a civilized ball room during a ball in a wife beater, sweatpants, sandals, and messy hair.

You are so very wrong.
It's a hierarchy. Positions of superiority and inferiority. It has nothing to do with 'decorum' and everything to do with the feudal system Japan has yet to grow out of.

Decorum has nothing to do with position or submission, and again decorum is something you display to somebody that has demonstrated they've earned your respect.

Decorum is defined as a dignified behavior or posture with no mention of respect. If acting with dignity is feudal, then trailer parks are the most socially advanced neighborhoods the world has to offer [sarcasm].

Respect is defined as a relation to one another. This doesn't mean anything without context. You speak of respect as if its the streets of a slum. Hierarchy is the basis of all of our progress, government. Without government, we would be hunter gatherers speaking with grunts. Hierarchy is the basis of which civilization springs from, even the lowest tribe.

You need to spend a little more time reading up on history.

And you need to spend a little more time reading a dictionary, so we'll agree to disagree.

I'll agree that you've no understanding of the primary contributors to social and technological progress.
Agriculture, language, education, mathematics, science, philosophy.

Hierarchy is not one of the numbers in that list.