The Japanese Could Teach Us a Thing or Two /By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

[sasha031]

When America is under stress, as is happening right now with debates about where to pare the budget, we sometimes trample the least powerful and most vulnerable among us. So maybe we can learn something from Japan, where the earthquake, tsunami and radiation leaks haven’t caused society to come apart at the seams but to be knit together more tightly than ever. The selflessness, stoicism and discipline in Japan these days are epitomized by those workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, uncomplainingly and anonymously risking dangerous doses of radiation as they struggle to prevent a complete meltdown that would endanger their fellow citizens.

The most famous statue in Japan is arguably one of a dog, Hachiko, who exemplified loyalty, perseverance and duty. Hachiko met his owner at the train station when he returned from work each day, but the owner died at work one day in 1925 and never returned. Until he died about 10 years later, Hachiko faithfully went to the station each afternoon just in case his master returned.

I hope that some day Japan will erect another symbol of loyalty and dedication to duty: a statue of those nuclear plant workers.
I lived in Japan for five years as the Tokyo bureau chief for The New York Times, and I was sometimes perceived as hostile to the country because I was often critical of the Japanese government’s incompetence and duplicity. But the truth is that I came to cherish Japan’s civility and selflessness. There’s a kind of national honor code, exemplified by the way even cheap restaurants will lend you an umbrella if you’re caught in a downpour; you’re simply expected to return it in a day or two. If you lose your wallet in the subway, you expect to get it back.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/opinion/20kristof.html?_r=1&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

[somone]

1. Excellent article

[sasha031]

3. I thought so too, it's a little insight into a country I don't know that much about

[somone]

6. Yep, it's a very different culture

Kristof offers a good explanation as to why there was no looting and why thievery is rare in Japan. The concept of personal honor is huge there.

[Brickbat]

2. I seem to remember a bunch of ordinary people doing their ordinary jobs in an extraordinary way on

Sept. 11, 2001.

I get really tired of these types of articles.

[sasha031]

4. then why read them

I don't see this as diminishing the hero's of 9/11 what so ever.

[Brickbat]

5. Because I keep hoping that someone will end up attributing it to human nature instead of culture.

[upi402]

7. Conservatism has brought us our new honor code...

"Hurray fer me and Fuck You!"
yeeee hawww

Buddhist societies feel that way when you're there. Easy, and they make a way for the next one.

[Maru Kitteh]

8. K&R. Here, we hoard milk and medicine we don't need with all the entitlement ans selfishness we can

muster, setting our collective hair on fire over barely detectable levels of radiation no more dangerous than granite or groundwater while Japan faces very REAL problems with grace and dignity. Yes we could learn a thing or two from the Japanese.

[Dappleganger]

9. +10000