Honor

Occasional Reader Rob sends along a link to an article in The Telegraph (UK) titled "Why is there no looting in Japan?"  An excerpt:

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.

The answer is simple, really.  The Japanese have a culture of honor, a culture where the concept of "shame" still has meaning.  It's actually beyond meaning, it's a way of life.  One simply doesn't do something/anything that would bring dishonor on one's family or close associates.  In public, anyway, private behavior can be quite another story altogether.  There are exceptions to the honor code on the fringes of Japanese society... every culture has its outliers... and crime most certainly exists.  But the national fabric is very much on display in this case of extreme adversity.

Disagree?  Want to amplify on my comments (and they prolly require amplification; we are ALL about brevity in these pages)?  I welcome your opinion and/or discussion, as long as it's civil.