By Ed West, The Telegraph UK:
The landscape of parts of Japan looks like the aftermath of World War Two; no industrialised country since then has suffered such a death toll. The one tiny, tiny consolation is the extent to which it shows how humanity can rally round in times of adversity, with heroic British rescue teams joining colleagues from the US and elsewhere to fly out.
And solidarity seems especially strong in Japan itself. Perhaps even more impressive than Japan’s technological power is its social strength, with supermarkets cutting prices and vending machine owners giving out free drinks as people work together to survive. Most noticeably of all, there has been no looting, and I’m not the only one curious about this.
This is quite unusual among human cultures, and it’s unlikely it would be the case in Britain. During the 2007 floods in the West Country abandoned cars were broken into and free packs of bottled water were stolen. There was looting in Chile after the earthquake last year – so much so that troops were sent in; in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina saw looting on a shocking scale.
Why do some cultures react to disaster by reverting to everyone for himself, but others – especially the Japanese – display altruism even in adversity?
(Source: The Telegraph)
15 Responses
Simple, They will chop off the hand From anyone that will be caught stealing.
If you loot in Japan they would chop your hand off!
LA had almost no looting after its last big quake http://articles.latimes.com/1994-02-06/opinion/op-19644_1_northridge-earthquake Still that quake was a lot smaller and the police responded quickly. It is a credit to the Japanese people that they have not succumbed to temptation.
The answer to why there is no looting has all to do with the country’s no-tolerance for crime policies and nothing to do with altruistic motivations.
Why Is There No Looting In Japan?
Because there was no slavery in Japan from Africa, and this none of their descendent’s who are the usual rioters.
two words:
respect and dignity!
Grandmaster, not only in America do they loot.
#5- You obviously do not know the history of Japan 1933-1945 in regards to China especially.
Civilized humans
Even here in adversity most behave properly.
It just takes a few bad apples to create a big stench.
“with supermarkets cutting prices”
Based upon what I read the big retailer Wal-Mart helped out a lot during Katrina.
#7 mdd – That is exactly what I stated.
#8 yswo – I specified Africans.
Wal-Mart helped out and others helped themselves.
The Japanese committed far worse crimes than any “Africans” in America did.
No. 6: I agree with you. Clearly, someone slipped some liberal socialist communist drugs into your coffee. If not, see your doctor – your heart might be bleeding.
There’s nothing to loot there. They ship all their (recall-able) junk here.