Non-Christian Japan: No looting

[Russ_of_Tokyo]

This is a real puzzler for me as a Christian, and I live in Japan and endured the quake.

Japan has such a low percentage of Christians that it is well below one percent. The vast majority are Shinto and Buddhist or simply agnostic. And yet there have been no reports of looting after this quake! Yet in countries where Christianity is dominant, looting is rampant after a disaster. Even in the “one nation under God” there was all that looting after Katrina!

True, I would hope that the looters were not Christians, but we Christians have a few lessons to learn when the world is praising Japanese culture (and by extension, its non-Christian religion) as being so honest and upright!

 

[Dale_M]

I dunno… does identifying a population as Christian really tell us anything about how individuals in that population will behave in an emergency situation? Theoretically, as Christians we should be all about self-sacrifice. Yet, as you noted, all kinds of bad behavior is seen in Christian nations in the aftermath of disasters. Of course, part of this can be explained by noting that individuals in Christian nations aren’t always guided by Christian ideals, even if they identify as Christian themselves.

My sense is that, unlike the West, Japanese culture puts a very high premium on conformity to social roles and social expectations, and we are seeing the upside to that in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami.

 

[panner]

This is a real puzzler for me as a Christian, and I live in Japan and endured the quake.

Japan has such a low percentage of Christians that it is well below one percent. The vast majority are Shinto and Buddhist or simply agnostic. And yet there have been no reports of looting after this quake! Yet in countries where Christianity is dominant, looting is rampant after a disaster. Even in the “one nation under God” there was all that looting after Katrina!

True, I would hope that the looters were not Christians, but we Christians have a few lessons to learn when the world is praising Japanese culture (and by extension, its non-Christian religion) as being so honest and upright!

They are very disciplined, much different than Americans. It shows that being a Christian doesn’t make you good and being a non Christian doesn’t make you bad.

 

[cloudcar]

The US culture is extremely individualistic. I think that idea is a stronger force than Christianity. In Japan the cultural norm is to fit into the group and work together. I think the difference between individualism and whatever you’d like to call its near opposite is the cause of the different reactions to disaster.

 

[vera_dicere]

This is a real puzzler for me as a Christian, and I live in Japan and endured the quake.

Japan has such a low percentage of Christians that it is well below one percent. The vast majority are Shinto and Buddhist or simply agnostic. And yet there have been no reports of looting after this quake! Yet in countries where Christianity is dominant, looting is rampant after a disaster. Even in the “one nation under God” there was all that looting after Katrina!

True, I would hope that the looters were not Christians, but we Christians have a few lessons to learn when the world is praising Japanese culture (and by extension, its non-Christian religion) as being so honest and upright!

Well, I have to wonder, how many of those looters in Katrina et al, attend a Christian church service each week?

While Christainity may be a majority religion in some places, their populace doesn’t always live up to it - if that were the case, America would have a very low abortion rate indeed.

I’d say either japan isn’t reporting the looting or their culture would place significant shame on anyone who did so or thought about doing so.

 

[meltzerboy]

The US culture is extremely individualistic. I think that idea is a stronger force than Christianity. In Japan the cultural norm is to fit into the group and work together. I think the difference between individualism and whatever you’d like to call its near opposite is the cause of the different reactions to disaster.

I agree. There is a cultural difference which extends beyond religious belief.

 

[waxwing]

This is a real puzzler for me as a Christian, and I live in Japan and endured the quake.

Japan has such a low percentage of Christians that it is well below one percent. The vast majority are Shinto and Buddhist or simply agnostic. And yet there have been no reports of looting after this quake! Yet in countries where Christianity is dominant, looting is rampant after a disaster. Even in the “one nation under God” there was all that looting after Katrina!

True, I would hope that the looters were not Christians, but we Christians have a few lessons to learn when the world is praising Japanese culture (and by extension, its non-Christian religion) as being so honest and upright!

Not sure if I have a answer for ya here, but I too have thought of this as well and as you say it is a puzzler. I’d be curious if similar natural disaster happened in Europe if their reaction would be more American or more Japanese. Reason I ask is that the one thing that springs to mind between Japan, Europe and N. America are the follow words I, Me, Mine and Ours, We, Share,When you combine individualism with consumerism (they’re days I think that is our predominant religon) as your purpose or your definition as a citizen the whole fend for yourself mentality may arise quite naturally …just my thought on that

 

[Whitacre_Girl]

This is a real puzzler for me as a Christian, and I live in Japan and endured the quake.

Japan has such a low percentage of Christians that it is well below one percent. The vast majority are Shinto and Buddhist or simply agnostic. And yet there have been no reports of looting after this quake! Yet in countries where Christianity is dominant, looting is rampant after a disaster. Even in the “one nation under God” there was all that looting after Katrina!

True, I would hope that the looters were not Christians, but we Christians have a few lessons to learn when the world is praising Japanese culture (and by extension, its non-Christian religion) as being so honest and upright!

I think that most people would agree that while most people in the United States identify as Christian, given the church attendance rates and people who actually know and follow the law of God , I think we can agree that identifying as something doesn’t make you one of them. Heck, at my school people call themselves “Christian” only because they’re parents were but they don’t personally believe in God. They still call themselves christian though.

At any rate, religion has nothing to do with it - culture does.

I know lots of Japanese people and I am fascinated with their culture. In their culture (as I am sure you, the OP knows) honor is everything. You don’t violate the law - those who do such as the yakuza are frowned upon more than they are in the States, and punishments are MUCH harsher.

I think the United States has much to learn from Japanese culture when it comes to honor and working hard. Maybe our schools would improve too so children can at least hope to compete with Japanese students.

 

[DENNYINMI]

Very interesting thoughts. However, Japan seems to have an extremely high rate of suicides, and the “focus” of the society, is not on family, but on achieving. Suicides are not uncommon within the Japanese culture when the focus is on performance, acedemics and the drive for success.
Its wonderful that no one is stealing during a national disaster, but no one is sitting down to a meal together, or raising large families either.
What is even stranger to me, appears to be the actual emotions that some of these people are showing, when usually the culture appears so stoic.

 

[Whitacre_Girl]

Very interesting thoughts. However, Japan seems to have an extremely high rate of suicides, and the “focus” of the society, is not on family, but on achieving. Suicides are not uncommon within the Japanese culture when the focus is on performance, acedemics and the drive for success.
Its wonderful that no one is stealing during a national disaster, but no one is sitting down to a meal together, or raising large families either.
What is even stranger to me, appears to be the actual emotions that some of these people are showing, when usually the culture appears so stoic.

No culture is perfect - Utopia doesn’t exist - but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from one another.

 

[Blacksword]

The US culture is extremely individualistic. I think that idea is a stronger force than Christianity. In Japan the cultural norm is to fit into the group and work together. I think the difference between individualism and whatever you’d like to call its near opposite is the cause of the different reactions to disaster.

This. While it is true that many Americans are not Christian at all in reality despite saying they are, it is also true that the spirit of rugged individualism, the pioneering spirit that has been so mythologized in American culture probably has at least as much, if not more, disastrous behavioral implications as positive ones. A strong sense of social duty and responsibility is not a bad thing by any means.

 

[steveb1]

I am not being racialist, or culturalist, in this reply:

Most of the looting US audiences see in their media is done by impoverished Americans, many of whom are non-white. This is because many times the worst devastation occurs in impoverished neighborhoods where, unfortunately, many of our non-white brothers and sisters are born and die, sometimes with very little hope of economic betterment. If any people, regardless of race, are impoverished, of course they will loot. It’s really that simple. Wealthier people tend not to loot, because they don’t “need” to. They have the best chance of escaping areas of devastation, the best storage-reserve-retrieval systems, the best insurance, and the best opportunities for reconstruction.

It is a false paradigm to project the behavior of some American impoverished folks onto the Japanese. It’s not just a matter of the Japanese being civilized, orderly, and blessed with a built-in system of deep courtesy. The US media I have seen have reported the behavior of general urban Japanese populations, not the behavior of “ghettoized”, impoverished Japanese. Therefore it is a mistake to project US social expectations on a populace whose actions are being reported generically, with no particular focus on how impoverished sections of that populace are, or are not, behaving.

Finally, the Japanese wisdom - which effectively tends to limit looting - is that the local stores still operating in the affected areas are simply giving - donating - their supplies. And they are doing it with a sense of order. The supplies are not just thrown at “customers”, but sensibly rationed.

Kudos to the Japanese for their practicality, bravery, and compassion

 

[Russ_of_Tokyo]

Tonight there was a news report of somebody stealing money from a damaged home, so looting is not totally missing. But it was big news and the newscasters were shocked.

 

[benidict]

This is a real puzzler for me as a Christian, and I live in Japan and endured the quake.

Japan has such a low percentage of Christians that it is well below one percent. The vast majority are Shinto and Buddhist or simply agnostic. And yet there have been no reports of looting after this quake! Yet in countries where Christianity is dominant, looting is rampant after a disaster. Even in the “one nation under God” there was all that looting after Katrina!

True, I would hope that the looters were not Christians, but we Christians have a few lessons to learn when the world is praising Japanese culture (and by extension, its non-Christian religion) as being so honest and upright!

I agree. And my prayers are with you and all the people affected by this disaster at this time.

 

[Bob_Crowley]

The US culture is extremely individualistic. I think that idea is a stronger force than Christianity. In Japan the cultural norm is to fit into the group and work together. I think the difference between individualism and whatever you’d like to call its near opposite is the cause of the different reactions to disaster.

As someone pointed out over here in a newspaper, in Japan the people are stoic, polite, law abiding, and industrious. On the other hand, there was no bucket brigrade turning up afterwards made up of ordinary citizens seeking to help each other as there was after the floods here in January, although there was a small amount of looting.

The Japanese, with their consensual culture, were waiting for the authorities to tell them what to do.

However the scale of the disaster was completely different. At least here there the basic infrastructure and housing was still there, and it was worth cleaning up. But when the houses have simply floated away and disintegrated, and the entire place looks like a junkyard, with thousands of dead, then perhaps it is unfair to compare them.

I know this much - to have any long term Christian evangelical results in Japan, missionaries will need to convert the leaders. The people will then follow.

 

[nordskoven]

Billions have been gained in shorting the yen. Now THAT’S looting! I can’t fault humans for snitching food and water after Katrina. What about Al Gore? He brought off the “Teapot Dome” heist that took down a bygone administration that only attempted it! Gore’s Occidental Petroleum (gifted to his Senator-dad Al Sr. by Armand Hammer, financier to Stalin, for getting him off a treason charge) snitched the Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve, part of the Teapot Dome region, when Clinton auctioned it to the highest bidder–Occidental Petroleum–to balance the budget. It’s good to be the king! That’s looting. Don’t call hungry, thirsty people looters. Foragers, maybe…

 

[FaithJoy]

If a culture lives in a culture of entitlements, there is more risk in looting in a disaster. In America, we expect so much from the gov’t. If we don’t think we get our fair share, we throw fits to get it. Look at protesting in Wisconsin for example. We act like such babies at times, I hate for the world to see our child like behavior. I think religion has nothing to do with it. It has more to do with govt. and social interaction with entitlements with their govt.We need to grow up is the bottom line.

 

[Whitacre_Girl]

If a culture lives in a culture of entitlements, there is more risk in looting in a disaster. In America, we expect so much from the gov’t. If we don’t think we get our fair share, we throw fits to get it. Look at protesting in Wisconsin for example. We act like such babies at times, I hate for the world to see our child like behavior. I think religion has nothing to do with it. It has more to do with govt. and social interaction with entitlements with their govt.We need to grow up is the bottom line.

 

[waxwing]

If a culture lives in a culture of entitlements, there is more risk in looting in a disaster. In America, we expect so much from the gov’t. If we don’t think we get our fair share, we throw fits to get it. Look at protesting in Wisconsin for example. We act like such babies at times, I hate for the world to see our child like behavior. I think religion has nothing to do with it. It has more to do with govt. and social interaction with entitlements with their govt.We need to grow up is the bottom line.

Maybe someone, like the OP or someone else who has knowledge of Japan can add/correct/clarify this, But I have a hunch Japan has more govt programs or a stronger safety net than the US so not sure if you have a society that distances its self from the ‘sink or swim’ mindset necessarily results in its citizens throw fits. I agree if people throw fits for unrealistic causes like State has no money so therefore we have no money to provide the following or to maintain the status quo, but if veers into we are taking away your rights and this has no bearing on on fiscal realities, ala Wisconsin well…protest away

 

[cyberwolf001]

Maybe someone, like the OP or someone else who has knowledge of Japan can add/correct/clarify this, But I have a hunch Japan has more govt programs or a stronger safety net than the US so not sure if you have a society that distances its self from the ‘sink or swim’ mindset necessarily results in its citizens throw fits. I agree if people throw fits for unrealistic causes like State has no money so therefore we have no money to provide the following or to maintain the status quo, but if veers into we are taking away your rights and this has no bearing on on fiscal realities, ala Wisconsin well…protest away

Compared to the US, Japan is for all points and purposes a Socialist nation. Japan is also a model for all Pagans in my book.