Why aren't they looting in Japan?

[ed629]

There was looting in New Orleans, Chile, even in Britain... yet:

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.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100079703/why-is-there-no-looting-in-japan/

 

[Canadave]

This was literally the last thing I read before coming to the BBS: Why the Japanese aren't looting

 

[Mr. B]

What is there to steal? Have you seen the pictures?

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

There's always something to steal.

But the Japanese have more class & civility than the rest of the planet combined.

 

[Dream]

If they loot they have to live with the shame of it for the rest of their lives or whatever.

 

[Bob Karo]

My money is that some are. They just won't admit it and are ashamed of themselves.

 

[BlobVanDam]

Isn't it a sad reflection on our society that anyone has to question why they AREN'T looting? And yet over here there was plenty of looting after the floods, and it doesn't at all surprise me.

 

[Roger Wilco]

The Japanese simply don't do that kind of thing, I think it wouldn't even cross the mind of most Japanese people.

read this for example to explain the Japanese mentality about such things.

Can you imagine what a cop in NYC says to you when you complain to him your unlocked bicycle was stolen from the train station after you left it there over night?

My bicycle was available because I never lock it. Not even when I'm leaving it outside a busy train station overnight.

This is Japan. Nobody steals your stuff here. Safest place in the developed world. You can look it up in the guidebooks.

It's a silly stereotype, of course. Tokyo's crime rate may be much lower than that of Los Angeles, but that doesn't mean it's free of petty thieves (or robbers, killers and gangsters). But live here awhile and enough anecdotal experience piles up to feed complacency. I've been chased by people who want to return a dropped coin. I've left my cellphone in a park, come back the next morning, and found it on the bench where I'd set it down.

 

[C.E. Evans]

You could call it the result of a society where personal honor is extremely valued or one in which people are very self-conscious of how others might perceive them, IMO...

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

The UK used to be a bit like that 50+ years ago. Not now. Were similar events to unfold here, the chavs would already have reverted to cannibalism after looting all the bling they could grab from Harrods.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Double post.

 

[F. King Daniel]

There's always something to steal.

But the Japanese have more class & civility than the rest of the planet combined.

This. Their lives have literally been wiped away and there's the possibility of horrible lingering radioactive death - yet they're more civilized than the queue at my local McDonalds.
Yesterday, the news was showing the "rush" at a petrol station. I couldn't believe how orderly it was.

 

[clint g]

Yup. It's a pretty sharp contrast from some of the shenanigans that happened during Katrina.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Wasn't most of the so-called looting in Katrina just regarding life-saving stuff like bottled water and blankets?

 

[clint g]

I have some friends in the National Guard who had to return fire because looters were shooting at them.

 

[farmkid]

Yup. It's a pretty sharp contrast from some of the shenanigans that happened during Katrina.

...or after the Bulls/Lakers/Raiders/etc. won/lost the championship, or the [insert one of several high-profile court cases] verdict came down, or...

 

[Jadzia]

The UK used to be a bit like that 50+ years ago. Not now.

The mindset that has become ingrained here in the past 50 years is "First come, first served".

People fear supplies running out, and going without (as shops/petrol stations often do when people panic buy), and that only reinforces the first come first served mindset.

People then use this to justify panic buying, pushing and shoving, and a general competitiveness that borders on lawlessness.

What the Japanese may do differently is trust that everyone will be served, and if supplies do run out, there is trust that they will be soon be replenished.

Perhaps a key component of that trust is the linear orderly nature of the queue, rather than the complex topology of self service shops and supermarkets, and chaotic flows of people they encourage.

 

[infinix]

Two words: accountability and responsibility. In Japan, you are taught to be accountable and responsible not only to yourself, but also your family and your community. Because everyone is taught that they are not simply individuals but parts of a bigger picture, everyone acts with extra care and civility.

In the US, individualism has been taken to such an extreme that individuals start to feel like they can do whatever they want and not have to worry about the consequences. It is always someone else's fault when your action results in certain detrimental results, and as such, you can always sue that someone else.

Getting too fat from eating McDonald's all the time? Don't exercise, simply sue McDonald's. Your child is misbehaving in school? Don't discipline them, simply sue the school for failing your child. Mess up the economy by handing out loans to people who obviously couldn't repay it? Don't worry, someone else will bail you out. Bought a house knowing you couldn't possibly afford it? Not a big deal. Stop paying the mortgage and move out because someone else will clean up your mess.

There are times when I detest what America has become.

 

[Captain Ice]

This doesn't surprise me in the least. I simply think that the idea of theft is so anathema to them culturally that they wouldn't even think of looting.

 

[Too Much Fun]

Because this is Japan, not an episode of "The Simpsons" where people start breaking windows and looting as soon as something out of the ordinary happens citywide.