Community Forums

Wayne M · 04-04-2011, 04:50 PM

This has been posted on so many web sites it is difficult to "cite" who the originator was. It's still interesting. We spent 3 years in Japan and the Japanese people have character. What do you think would happen in our country.

10 things to learn from JAPAN-
1. THE CALM
Not a single visual of chest-beating or wild grief. Sorrow itself has been elevated.
2. THE DIGNITY
Disciplined queues for water and groceries. Not a rough word or a crude gesture.
3. THE ABILITY
The incredible architects, for instance. Buildings swayed but didn’t fall.
4. THE GRACE
People bought only what they needed for the present, so everybody could get something.
5. THE ORDER
No looting in shops. No honking and no overtaking on the roads. Just understanding.
6. THE SACRIFICE
Fifty workers stayed back to pump sea water in the N-reactors. How will they ever be repaid?
7. THE TENDERNESS
Restaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM is left alone. The strong cared for the weak.
8. THE TRAINING
The old and the children, everyone knew exactly what to do. And they did just that.
9. THE MEDIA
They showed magnificent restraint in the bulletins. No silly reporters. Only calm reportage.
10. THE CONSCIENCE
When the power went off in a store, people put things back on the shelves and left quietly!

Dixieray53 · 04-04-2011, 05:01 PM

One word enters my mind. I have worked very closely with the rich, the poor, the mean. Retail teaches you everything you wish to know or not know about America...ie. Christmas shoppers, trampling each other for a 200 buck computer. The word Americans have forgotten...is RESPECT.....respect for ones selves, respect for others, respect for authority...Enough said. If you have never been to another country, you will never appreciate true conservatism. Peace...D

golden · 04-04-2011, 05:04 PM

I spent six years there in the 60s and I can tell you that nothing has changed in regard to the 10 principles you mention. Too bad that more couldn't be applied to us.

Bob/Becky D - VA · 04-04-2011, 05:32 PM

Wayne:

As you know, spent many years in Japan as well. Agree with DixieRay that RESPECT is considerable more prevalent than it is in this country. I would add to the list FAMILY AND COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITY. The sense of family and concern for those in their community is foremost there as it is in most Asian countries.

Bob

haulinhazmat · 04-04-2011, 06:03 PM

My grandson in on the Ronald Reagan off the coast of Japan and thier copters are delivering supplys to remote parts of Japan. The ten things that Wayne posted are everywhere. America is the Christian country, we should be teaching the world these things. What happened?

dons2346 · 04-04-2011, 06:21 PM

Sure is totally different than the scene in New Orleans.

Wayne M · 04-04-2011, 07:23 PM

I am proud to say that when Ike hit, Texas did not stand there with a hand open. Everything is nearly repaired, and most did it themselves.

4Knights · 04-04-2011, 07:30 PM

Same can be said for us central states, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma,etc.. Tornados wipe out whole towns and some times bigger cities, no running amuck just dust yourself off, take stock of the damage and if your family is ok then go check the neighbors and see what help they need.

frankdamp · 04-05-2011, 12:59 PM

I wish the US media would knock off all the hyping of the radiation leaks. They, more than anyone, are responsible for the ridiculous run on the anti-radiation pills. Also, they don't seem to have anyone in their consulting team that understands the nuclear powerplant issues.

Now they're trying to panic everyone over the "unexplained" spike in radiation in the ocean. Well, DUH, the power plant folks have been pumping seawater over the reactor continment buiding, by-passing the normal closed loop heat exchanger system. Where do you think that water's going to go?

Son and his Japanese wife live a little way west of downtown Tokyo in Chiba Prefecture. In their e-mails and phone calls, they seem quite unconcerned about the whole thing. He remarked on how calm everyone in downtown was after the quake. No visble panic even though nobody could get home since the train systems had shut down. Apparently, though cell-phone voice was unreliable, texting worked just fine and people were able to stay in touch..

rough road · 04-06-2011, 06:15 AM

I think we should learn never to buid a nuke in an earthquake zone-who cannot be impressed with how these people have behaved, isn't diversity a wonderful thing?

radams · 04-06-2011, 07:47 AM

While I can admire many of the traits that Japanese society has I also cannot forget the actions of their military in WWII. Specifically, Unit 731, the rape of Nanking, Bataan Death March, etc. That doesn't diminish my level of empathy for the Japanese in the current situation but there is another side of the ledger that I'm not sure has been properly accounted for. All I'm saying is that the society that created these positive values has also, in the past, created unspeakable horrors on a large scale. It's not up to me to forgive but in memory of the victims I cannot forget. I'll take rough and tumble Americans any old day!

edj · 04-06-2011, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rough road

I think we should learn never to buid a nuke in an earthquake zone-who cannot be impressed with how these people have behaved, isn't diversity a wonderful thing?

The problem with the Nuclear plant was not the earthquake. It came through the earthquake just fine. The problem was that they did not build the sea wall high enough to protect against the resulting wave. If they had put the diesel generators and fuel tanks higher than 50 feet above sea level, there would not have been any problems at all.

tcopeland · 04-06-2011, 08:09 AM

Agee with most. Been there many times. A people you really need to understand to get to know. They DO have a hard time understanding us.

Senior Chief · 04-06-2011, 08:12 AM

who cannot be impressed with how these people have behaved, isn't diversity a wonderful thing?

I am perplexed by this remark. Japan is one of the most homogeneous societies on the planet- diversity is neither celebrated or in fact, much tolerated. I would even speculate that Japan's sense of Western and Chinese "otherness" helped lead to the atrocities of WW2 ( nod to radam)

Their homogeneity strengthens their sense of community, which is what leads to the respect and courtesy which is a hallmark of their culture.

Sadly, I feel our contemporary American term "diversity" is just a mask for maintaining a denial of responsibility and an overweening sense of entitlement by the ostensibly permanent underclass.