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

[ph0b0s123]

Damn I envy them. Why couldnt the UK be more like that ? Werent we big on manners, where did we go wrong T.T

Because we are less tolerant when other people arn't as polite as us. We are also very jaded and cynical as a nation and have a lack of national pride. The Japanese are very proud of their country and their people as whole.

Were we always like that ?

Thought the victorian times was everyone had to have loads of annoying manners about everything. Why couldnt our culture just have frozen then. We dont have pride anymore, thats for sure, but we had pride. Allthough I dont see how pride is relivant here. Still I envy them, japan must be a great place to live if you get over the weird things they come out with, and also how are they big on manners ? Isnt there a real problem with groping and other pervy stuff in the trains there ?

*snipped*[they] will assume you're just like the stereotypes they've seen of foreigners in the media, or exactly like the last foreigner they may have met. In a sense, they're a lot like Americans who've never been outside the country that way. Trust me, I know from experience... Also, it's expensive to live here, even compared to America.

There's actually a condition called "Paris Syndrome" which happens to a fair amount of Japanese people when they first visit France. It doesn't match up to the stereotypes they believe about it and they go into massive culture shock consisting of:

"acute delusional states, hallucinations, feelings of persecution (delusions of being a victim of prejudice, aggression, or hostility from others), derealization, depersonalization, anxiety, and also psychosomatic manifestations such as dizziness, tachycardia, sweating"

Due to a) being unable to reconcile France with the picture their media has told them about it and b) how informal (and seemingly rude to a Japanese person) French society and culture is.

Did read that the Japanese Embassy in France have a special department to deal with this issue and to help return distress suffers back home again.

 

[Eisenfaust]

i didn't realise there was anything to really reevaluate, at least for me... looting in a generally collectivist nation would be rare. sure, they're a little weird, but no more than anyone else...

 

[Calcium]

I find the lack of looting slightly surprising, but I never expected there to be any looting (I didn't expect there not to be either if that makes any sense). I didn't realise the West had a negative view of Japan. My views were that it was more advanced with a more peaceful society.

 

[Toriver]

anyway about what you said, I agree freespeach does have quite a few problems, personally I dont belive in free speach but thats a different topic.
Allthough you brought that up, how is Japan on political corectness ?

Well, they do tend to have some pretty strong stereotypes for any number of different nationalities. Most are positive in nature, but even positive stereotypes can be wrong. The respectful nature of the culture and the emphasis on social harmony preclude that sensitive subjects simply aren't discussed unless you're around very familiar company, though. Talking politics, religion, or anything like that at work is pretty much taboo. As far as the media is concerned, anime is probably where most of the boundaries get pushed, but anime is not nearly as popular here as many Western anime fans believe. Anime "otaku" are largely social outcasts, shunned from society, at least out here in the more rural areas. Things may be different in Tokyo, but Tokyo is a whole different world from the rest of Japan, even Osaka. Culturally, Tokyo might as well be its own country. It's just SO different from the rest of Japan, and if you get most of your information on Japanese culture from games, anime, manga and the like, that's Tokyo culture, not "rest of Japan" culture, and in many cases, it's not even correct for Tokyo culture. Seriously, NEVER turn to anime or manga for cultural information on Japan. It will often be wrong, or something will be lost in translation.

In short, Japan is pretty much VERY PC, to the point that things just aren't even mentioned that you might hear people talk about more openly in the West. Sorry for another long post, but as I mentioned before, it's an interesting topic!

 

[Jeremy Skitz]

fact is that the japanese, unlike us in the west, can pull together in the time of crisis. they are smart, they unite. also why the fuck would you expect looting when there is nothing left to fucking loot?!

 

[Ph33nix]

whats there left to loot? most of the places got swamped by the tsunami not much left their to steal

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

I dont even know what logography and syllabaries are anyway, so yeah, still not helping. Also they generally have confusing letters, that look like they require alot of efort just for one letter syllable.

Basically they have one spoken alphabet but three written ones; one is characters that symbolise things e.g a square bisected by lines is rice field while the other two are both designed so that each letter is a syllable e.g "Su" is

in katakana. The two syllabic ones are actually pretty easy to learn its the kanji (the symbollic ones) that will melt your brain.

To answer your earlier question the Japenese tend to see the French as exactly like the French stereotype i.e Romantic, Carefree, Empathetic when they get there they tend to see them more as rude, dirty (filthy streets of paris), and uncaring.

Its the two different cultures as well. Japanese society is very rigid and formal while French are very touchy-feely and informal.

 

[Hosker]

I don't need to re-evaluate how I judge Japanese society; I already highly regarded them. You're saying other people dislike them?

I read somewhere they have a really low crime rate, so I'm not too surprised.

 

[Malyc]

Something struck where I live (unlikely): Secure what you need to survive (food, water), damn those who try to stop me. Than may be get something extra to get on your feet faster once it's over. May not be pretty or noble, but I will claw my way out of any shit even if I'll have to use dead babies to build a raft. I think thats how the West came on top in the end.

I like your style, but, good luck taking the supplies i will have gotten. Trespassers will be shot, survivors will be fed to the dogs.

 

[SamElliot'sMustache]

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

Well if you count "searching the rubble that once was our city for useful things" then there is indeed a lot of looting. But without stores to storm it just doesnt look like it

Reminds me of a certain photo showing blacks after Katrina which labelled them as looters, while the whites were doing the same thing in another photo, but they were 'searching the rubble.' Maybe Japan just doesn't have enough black people? Yeah, definitely the lack of black people.

 

[stormtrooper9091]

and that's why Japanese are the coolest people ever

 

[irani_che]

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

Well if you count "searching the rubble that once was our city for useful things" then there is indeed a lot of looting. But without stores to storm it just doesnt look like it

Reminds me of a certain photo showing blacks after Katrina which labelled them as looters, while the whites were doing the same thing in another photo, but they were 'searching the rubble.' Maybe Japan just doesn't have enough black people? Yeah, definitely the lack of black people.

the difference between searchers and looters I always thought was straightforward, Is the building they search rubble? and if it is, did they own this location before it was rubble.
Same in games, you search your own bag, you loot dead enemies

 

[FateOrFatality]

So, you're saying we shouldn't loot things during a crisis?

Yes, yes, I can see it now! What a brilliant, innovative idea!

 

[Flames66]

Everything looked pretty much decimated.

I personally think that it looked much more like everything was destroyed.

Why is any of that a surprise? Japan is famous for being a clean and polite society with very little crime.

Any idea someone might have had to the contrary would be entirely based on a raciest (or otherwise illogical) assumption. What assumption that might be I haven't the slightest idea because none of the Japanese stereotypes could be relevant.

From our corporations to the every-man, we all have something to learn from Japan's example right now about being decent human beings. If anything we should be re-evaluating ourselves right now.

Helping others is the best thing anyone can do with their lives. I hope I can live up to that statement in years to come.