Japan's Diaster - "There is no looting"

Just amazing.  Remember all the looting that took place in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina?  Or in Haiti after their earthquake?  Well in Japan there is literally no looting taking place after their horrific earthquake and Tsunami:

Japan's Saving Grace - It's People:  If there was ever a more unfathomable disaster than Japan's huge earthquake, horrific tsunami and nuclear meltdown, we have yet to see it. But the courage and dignity of the Japanese people transcended it.  The world watched helplessly as a 9.0 earthquake hammered Japan's coast, and a tsunami's massive wall of black sludge spread its fingers across the northeast coast of Japan.  The incredible tsunami footage showed giant ships, cargo containers, houses, trains and cars flung around like toys. Bullet trains went missing and refineries went up in flames.  Worse still, there were explosions at nuclear plants. All along, Japan's pitiful survivors are without food, electricity, water, cell phones and gasoline in a freezing winter.  Despite the magnitude of these catastrophes, the Japanese so far are surmounting it, showing what hope is.  Common wisdom holds that nations that prepare for earthquakes do better than nations that don't. But Japan doesn't have merely good earthquake preparation; it has the best in the world.  None of this mattered in a disaster of this magnitude.  The nuclear situation saddens too. Seven decades ago, Japan went to war for control of conventional energy resources like oil. Embracing peace, Japan adopted nuclear energy to show it had ended its thirst for resources.  Now, the country faces a nuclear meltdown at three reactors amid fears of possible contamination.  Nature seemed to mock Japan's technology prowess.  The floating houses, business offices and cars were likely full of gleaming high-tech devices that were about to be turned into sludge. Japan's famed animators who pioneered disaster movies never imagined what nature could do until this week. And Japan's renowned cameras recorded it for the world.  Japan became the second-richest nation in the world despite being endowed with very few resources. This natural disaster is a cruel reminder that, at least in geography and resources, Japan remains poor.  But it's that very element of this disaster that shows that the most important aspect of the Japanese isn't their brilliance or their wealth, but their character.  They showed dignity and courage against nature's hardest blow, pulling together as a nation. The unaffected reached out to help, and victims refrained from mayhem and looting.

These people have been through experiences we can only dream of but yet they calmly wait in lines with dignity and respect.  How do they do it?  Is it the fact that Japan is largely a homogeneous society with very little diversity?  In Japan everyone is of the same race and culture.  There is very little immigration in Japan.

Foreign observers are noting with curiosity and wonder that the Japanese people in disaster-plagued areas are not looting for desperately-needed supplies like bottled water. This behavior contrasts sharply with what has so often happened in the wake of catastrophes elsewhere, such as Haiti, New Orleans, Chile, and the UK, to name only a few.  Most people chalk up the extraordinary good behavior to Japanese culture, noting the legendary politeness of Japanese people in everyday life.

Culture does play a role, but it is not an adequate explanation. After all, in the right circumstances, Japanese mass behavior can rank with the worst humanity has to offer, as in the Rape of Nanking. There are clearly other factors at work determining mass outbreaks of good and bad behavior among the Japanese, and for that matter, anyone else.

There are, in fact, lessons to be learned from the Japanese good behavior by their friends overseas, lessons which do not require wholesale adoption of Japanese culture, from eating sushi to sleeping on tatami mats. It is more a matter of social structure than culture keeping the Japanese victims of catastrophe acting in the civilized and enlightened manner they have displayed over the past few days.

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