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Can I just say that as a recent member of this forum, I find it astonishing that a seemingly innocent discourse on why/ why nots of looting post-disasters in Japan, can turn into divisive, ideological debate.
On one side, I see certain posts exploiting the dignified manner in which the Japanese survivors have displayed after immense tragedies, as another way to denigrate another race of people. We can all praise a group of people without resorting to racially-tinged rhetorics. It's impossible to have open, reciprocal dialogue if you are starting off with racist presumptions unrelated to the topic at hand.
Notwithstanding, other posts seek to affirm the belief in the inherent baseness of human nature during times of strife. In the process of doing so, they refute the positive qualities in Japanese culture which have allowed them to endure both natural/ man-made hardships, by providing groundless opinions in regards to Japanese culture and society.
Is Japan a more orderly, highly-functional society when compared to many other nations in the world? Yes. Japan isn't known as the "Switzerland of Asia" for nothing. Are Japanese culture and its cultural mores perfect? No. The positive aspects of Japanese social norms are useful in instances of group hardship and shared responsibilities. These same components of social norms can be argued to be stifling under other or normal circumstances, as anyone who has lived in Japan understands.
Commending the Japanese for social order isn't the same as saying that Japan has no serious social problems or criminal activities. Do you know what one of the most popular crimes committed in Japan is? It's identity fraud, at least it was when I lived there recently. Since changing one's name is rather easy in Japan, criminals/ criminally minded change their names and falsely obtain credit or loans which they of course don't pay back, thus further straining the battered financial institutions. There are people who do this multiple times, and only recently has the government really focused on the issue. Poverty levels are on the rise as are the number of people on welfare. Yes, there are poor people on welfare in Japan. Japanese politicians aren't all deserving of automatic respect either....every newscast there are reports about political bribes or scandals. For example, the governor of Tokyo is a bigot who constantly sprouts anti-Chinese and anti-Korean statements. He's still in office but I don't know for how much longer as he recently said that both the earthquake and tsunami were "punishments" for the Japanese being too "egotistic." So you see, the Japanese has idiots running the government too.
Unfortunately, what these isolated instances of stealing and/ or looting has shown us is that there is no 'perfect society' however exceptional a society or a people can be under the best and worst of times. Japanese criminals thrive on opportunities presented forth during disasters, just as in everywhere else in the world. However, Japanese laws and society are very harsh on criminals, especially ones who undermine the social fabric of the nation. Even reformed criminals are outcasts within Japanese society, and for a Japanese person to be ostracized by society means that he/ she is as good as being dead. This is a big reason for low crime rates in Japan.....if altruistic values instilled throughout a Japanese person's life didn't "take", then there is always the back-up plan that shame/ shaming will work.
For all of that, it's still worthwhile to commend the Japanese victims of these dual tragedies for the grace and dignity they have shown us. "Ganbatte kudasai!" (Shut up and endure!), arguably the Japanese national slogan, is alive and well.
My friends who live there, say food and water has been scarce, they are so very hungry, where the hunger just gnaws at their sides because of hunger pains. Food to me is a necessity, electronics, furniture, shoes etc, is stealing. Food and water is needed. My friends have said that this is a living nightmare, but only too true.
Can I just say that as a recent member of this forum, I find it astonishing that a seemingly innocent discourse on why/ why nots of looting post-disasters in Japan, can turn into divisive, ideological debate.
Everything here turns into "divisive, ideological debate."
Can I just say that as a recent member of this forum, I find it astonishing that a seemingly innocent discourse on why/ why nots of looting post-disasters in Japan, can turn into divisive, ideological debate.
On one side, I see certain posts exploiting the dignified manner in which the Japanese survivors have displayed after immense tragedies, as another way to denigrate another race of people. We can all praise a group of people without resorting to racially-tinged rhetorics. It's impossible to have open, reciprocal dialogue if you are starting off with racist presumptions unrelated to the topic at hand.
Notwithstanding, other posts seek to affirm the belief in the inherent baseness of human nature during times of strife. In the process of doing so, they refute the positive qualities in Japanese culture which have allowed them to endure both natural/ man-made hardships, by providing groundless opinions in regards to Japanese culture and society.
Is Japan a more orderly, highly-functional society when compared to many other nations in the world? Yes. Japan isn't known as the "Switzerland of Asia" for nothing. Are Japanese culture and its cultural mores perfect? No. The positive aspects of Japanese social norms are useful in instances of group hardship and shared responsibilities. These same components of social norms can be argued to be stifling under other or normal circumstances, as anyone who has lived in Japan understands.
Commending the Japanese for social order isn't the same as saying that Japan has no serious social problems or criminal activities. Do you know what one of the most popular crimes committed in Japan is? It's identity fraud, at least it was when I lived there recently. Since changing one's name is rather easy in Japan, criminals/ criminally minded change their names and falsely obtain credit or loans which they of course don't pay back, thus further straining the battered financial institutions. There are people who do this multiple times, and only recently has the government really focused on the issue. Poverty levels are on the rise as are the number of people on welfare. Yes, there are poor people on welfare in Japan. Japanese politicians aren't all deserving of automatic respect either....every newscast there are reports about political bribes or scandals. For example, the governor of Tokyo is a bigot who constantly sprouts anti-Chinese and anti-Korean statements. He's still in office but I don't know for how much longer as he recently said that both the earthquake and tsunami were "punishments" for the Japanese being too "egotistic." So you see, the Japanese has idiots running the government too.
Unfortunately, what these isolated instances of stealing and/ or looting has shown us is that there is no 'perfect society' however exceptional a society or a people can be under the best and worst of times. Japanese criminals thrive on opportunities presented forth during disasters, just as in everywhere else in the world. However, Japanese laws and society are very harsh on criminals, especially ones who undermine the social fabric of the nation. Even reformed criminals are outcasts within Japanese society, and for a Japanese person to be ostracized by society means that he/ she is as good as being dead. This is a big reason for low crime rates in Japan.....if altruistic values instilled throughout a Japanese person's life didn't "take", then there is always the back-up plan that shame/ shaming will work.
For all of that, it's still worthwhile to commend the Japanese victims of these dual tragedies for the grace and dignity they have shown us. "Ganbatte kudasai!" (Shut up and endure!), arguably the Japanese national slogan, is alive and well.
Can I just say that as a recent member of this forum, I find it astonishing that a seemingly innocent discourse on why/ why nots of looting post-disasters in Japan, can turn into divisive, ideological debate.
On one side, I see certain posts exploiting the dignified manner in which the Japanese survivors have displayed after immense tragedies, as another way to denigrate another race of people. We can all praise a group of people without resorting to racially-tinged rhetorics. It's impossible to have open, reciprocal dialogue if you are starting off with racist presumptions unrelated to the topic at hand.
Notwithstanding, other posts seek to affirm the belief in the inherent baseness of human nature during times of strife. In the process of doing so, they refute the positive qualities in Japanese culture which have allowed them to endure both natural/ man-made hardships, by providing groundless opinions in regards to Japanese culture and society.
Is Japan a more orderly, highly-functional society when compared to many other nations in the world? Yes. Japan isn't known as the "Switzerland of Asia" for nothing. Are Japanese culture and its cultural mores perfect? No. The positive aspects of Japanese social norms are useful in instances of group hardship and shared responsibilities. These same components of social norms can be argued to be stifling under other or normal circumstances, as anyone who has lived in Japan understands.
Commending the Japanese for social order isn't the same as saying that Japan has no serious social problems or criminal activities. Do you know what one of the most popular crimes committed in Japan is? It's identity fraud, at least it was when I lived there recently. Since changing one's name is rather easy in Japan, criminals/ criminally minded change their names and falsely obtain credit or loans which they of course don't pay back, thus further straining the battered financial institutions. There are people who do this multiple times, and only recently has the government really focused on the issue. Poverty levels are on the rise as are the number of people on welfare. Yes, there are poor people on welfare in Japan. Japanese politicians aren't all deserving of automatic respect either....every newscast there are reports about political bribes or scandals. For example, the governor of Tokyo is a bigot who constantly sprouts anti-Chinese and anti-Korean statements. He's still in office but I don't know for how much longer as he recently said that both the earthquake and tsunami were "punishments" for the Japanese being too "egotistic." So you see, the Japanese has idiots running the government too.
Unfortunately, what these isolated instances of stealing and/ or looting has shown us is that there is no 'perfect society' however exceptional a society or a people can be under the best and worst of times. Japanese criminals thrive on opportunities presented forth during disasters, just as in everywhere else in the world. However, Japanese laws and society are very harsh on criminals, especially ones who undermine the social fabric of the nation. Even reformed criminals are outcasts within Japanese society, and for a Japanese person to be ostracized by society means that he/ she is as good as being dead. This is a big reason for low crime rates in Japan.....if altruistic values instilled throughout a Japanese person's life didn't "take", then there is always the back-up plan that shame/ shaming will work.
For all of that, it's still worthwhile to commend the Japanese victims of these dual tragedies for the grace and dignity they have shown us. "Ganbatte kudasai!" (Shut up and endure!), arguably the Japanese national slogan, is alive and well.
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