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What happened in Japan was a tragedy, a natural disaster. While following the news coverage online and on cable tv, it occurred to me that what we are not hearing about events in Japan is quite important. No reports of looting, rioting, widespread criminal activity.
Contrast this to what happened in New Orleans after Katrina or Haiti after the earthquake there.
Why is this? Culture? Civil society? Homogenous population? All of these?
What happened in Japan was a tragedy, a natural disaster. While following the news coverage online and on cable tv, it occurred to me that what we are not hearing about events in Japan is quite important. No reports of looting, rioting, widespread criminal activity.
Contrast this to what happened in New Orleans after Katrina or Haiti after the earthquake there.
Why is this? Culture? Civil society? Homogenous population? All of these?
I always see conservatives bring up "homogeneous population." I wonder why that is?
What happened in Japan was a tragedy, a natural disaster. While following the news coverage online and on cable tv, it occurred to me that what we are not hearing about events in Japan is quite important. No reports of looting, rioting, widespread criminal activity.
Contrast this to what happened in New Orleans after Katrina or Haiti after the earthquake there.
Why is this? Culture? Civil society? Homogenous population? All of these?
Japanese citizens have turned in money that was found to the government. Why? The Japanese are people of honor and integrity. They do not take handouts and they have pride in their integrity. I went to high school in Japan. On our senior trip two seniors were found having intercourse. Our Japanese high school host called everyone together and was going to commit Hari Kari because he had lost face with the Japanese hosts. He wasn't kidding. It was extremely traumatic for all of us. An American born teacher intervened and stopped the suicide.
I always see conservatives bring up "homogeneous population." I wonder why that is?
Spare us the implied racism b.s. OP`s point is well-taken, as anyone with a modicum of good sense is aware.
The unanimity of cultural expectations among the Japanese people is key to understanding their patiently accepting, even fatalistic, approach to disasters like the Fukushima earthquake/tsunami -- as well as their stolid and calm undertaking of the task of rebuilding.
Prime Minister Kan resigned yesterday, partly as a result of his perceived ineffectiveness in responding to the disaster and accelerating recovery efforts. Can you imagine an American politician actually paying more than lip service to taking responsibility for his/her shortcomings and failures?
Centuries of isolation have created a population in Japan which is indeed homogenous, and not simply racially. The Japanese people share social, behavioral, and ethical expectations to a degree that is impossible in more diverse nation-states. This phenomenon has both positive and negative aspects. The willingness of Mr. Kan to step down and put the national interests before his own, and the calmness with which Japan faced down, and is dealing with the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, are examples of the former.
Spare us the implied racism b.s. OP`s point is well-taken, as anyone with a modicum of good sense is aware.
The unanimity of cultural expectations among the Japanese people is key to understanding their patiently accepting, even fatalistic, approach to disasters like the Fukushima earthquake/tsunami -- as well as their stolid and calm undertaking of the task of rebuilding.
Prime Minister Kan resigned yesterday, partly as a result of his perceived ineffectiveness in responding to the disaster and accelerating recovery efforts. Can you imagine an American politician actually paying more than lip service to taking responsibility for his/her shortcomings and failures?
Centuries of isolation have created a population in Japan which is indeed homogenous, and not simply racially. The Japanese people share social, behavioral, and ethical expectations to a degree that is impossible in more diverse nation-states. This phenomenon has both positive and negative aspects. The willingness of Mr. Kan to step down and put the national interests before his own, and the calmness with which Japan faced down, and is dealing with the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, are examples of the former.
Japanese citizens have turned in money that was found to the government. Why? The Japanese are people of honor and integrity. They do not take handouts and they have pride in their integrity. I went to high school in Japan. On our senior trip two seniors were found having intercourse. Our Japanese high school host called everyone together and was going to commit Hari Kari because he had lost face with the Japanese hosts. He wasn't kidding. It was extremely traumatic for all of us. An American born teacher intervened and stopped the suicide.
There was not a lot of honor or integrity involved in the circumstances leading up to the real estate meltdown in the late 1980's that lead to the current economic malaise that Japan has endured for over 20 years. In many ways our own financial crises is similar than theirs.
For all the Japanese people's accomplishment and they are many they are subject to the same human fallacies and weaknesses that affect other human beings.
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