This question of trying to figure out whether a book is good or bad by looking at it carefully or by taking the reports of a lot of people who looked at it carelessly is like this famous old problem: Nobody was permitted to see the Emperor of China, and the question was, What is the length of the Emperor of China’s nose? To find out, you go all over the country asking people what they think the length of the Emperor of China’s nose is, and you average it. And that would be very “accurate” because you averaged so many people. But it’s no way to find anything out; when you have a very wide range of people who contribute without looking carefully at it, you don’t improve your knowledge of the situation by averaging.
It seems to me that they asked a bunch of people in the US why they think there is no looting in Japan...
I'm actually from Wisconsin, but was living in Cedar Rapids during the floods, and there was looting there. My neighbor was the cop chasing these guys down. I am just curious how other communities were able to avoid looting.
BTW, Cedar Rapids is in Iowa.
After the waters receded many groups helped clean up countless houses in the hard-hit areas. While I wouldn't say we have quite the serene calm of the Japanese, I think communities in the United States still can effectively work together.
I apologize for a non-PC interjection. You can't totally separate race and culture in the US. When a group has differences in language, music, eating habits, values and other social interactions, it becomes useful to think about it as a subculture. At the risk of being non-PC, a 'black urban subculture' may license antisocial behavior that is considered more reprehensible in 'white suburban subculture'.
I hasten to add that people who are white may be strongly associate and be of high standing in 'black urban subculture' (ie Eminem), and people who are black may strongly associate and be of high standing in 'white suburban subculture,' (ie Obama) and that once you start making assumptions about people's values and cultural adherence based on the color of their skin you start crossing the line into racism, which I don't believe anyone of any race is entirely free of.
Modern democracy, anyone?
No, they're just different. Better in some ways, worse in others.
If I had to summarize Japan in one word, it would be 'harmony', or 'Wa' (和). People here don't rock the boat, and don't want to upset the status quo. The few that do find themselves more often than not pushed to the bottom of society.
Because of this, kids go through twelve years of indoctrination, where they learn to think, speak, and act like a unit. They emerge from this into a four-year vacation (university) where very little is asked of them, after which it's expected that you will either become a researcher, or put on a suit and become a salaryman.
The Japanese system is great in times of crisis.
It sucks if you want to start a company, or if you've got a startup and want to hire employees.
White friends of mine recall looking for a flat in Japan and being constantly rejected with "you're white, we don't lease to whites", which is not a problem there. There are second-generation Koreans living in Japan who can't get citizenship or the vote.
Japan is an awesome place and the people are very different to a great many other places, but can we keep the cultural cringe to a minimum?
I also find it interesting in the story that there is no mention of Feynman making a fuss about a colleague being stark naked in the same room. Does this mean he's also much more advanced and civilised? Why doesn't Fernman mention this; why is it beyond notice? Why is the maid's lack of reaction that much more noteworthy than his own lack of reaction?
It's interesting that sexual violence strikes such a chord with us westerners, but we think nothing of glamorizing gratuitous, sadistic physical violence. We have a popular television series where the hero is a psychopath serial killer with a heart of gold. In some of the Hannibal Lecter movies, Hannibal was arguably portrayed as a hero and he cannibalized people!
>>There are second-generation Koreans living in Japan who can't get citizenship or the vote.
It's not about discrimination why Koreans are not becoming Japanese citizen, but it is their choices. Because Koreans in Japan have privileges and immunities which people with Japanese citizenship or other nationalities don't have.
I don't think your story represents Japanese people's personality regarding not looting. Read <The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture>.
What do you mean "allow"? Where I live (Europe) there are no restrictions in spas, and people can sit in tubs in any combinations they want...
There are other arrangements, too, though. In addition to simply splitting the onsen between a men's side and a women's side, they can also change from one to the other, so you can have mixed bathing later in the night, while being split the rest of the time.
The next morning the young woman taking care of our room fixes the bath, which was right in our room. Sometime later she returns with a tray to deliver breakfast. I'm partly dressed. She turns to me and says, politely, "Ohayo, gozai masu," which means, "Good morning."
Pais is just coming out of the bath, sopping wet and completely nude. She turns to him and with equal composure says, "Ohayo, gozai masu ," and puts the tray down for us.
Pais looks at me and says, "God, are we uncivilized!"
We realized that in America if the maid was delivering breakfast and the guy's standing there, stark naked, there would be little screams and a big fuss. But in Japan they were completely used to it, and we felt that they were much more advanced and civilized about those things than we were.