Blogs Mar 11, 2011 at 8:31 am

Comments

1
Well, they're not Africans.

Now shut the fuck up please Muede.
2
Or is it the fact that you didn't actually read any news related to this earthquake and don't realize this has been going on for days in northern Japan?

People get used to earthquakes bro. It's called California.
3
What's the problem here? Every single person looks like they are on a cell phone - my guess is that they are checking in on family members elsewhere. THAT"S WHAT YOU DO in this situation - after an earthquake strikes (and if you're not close to the water), there's no reason to expect panic.
4
It's cultural Charles. The Japanese conduct earthquake preparedness drills on a regular basis, so it's pretty ingrained. Unlike here, where people bitch-and-moan about an annual 15 minute fire drill, if they even get that much training.

Deepest condolences to those who've lost loved ones, and here's hoping everyone else remains safe - both in Japan and where ever the tsunami threat poses risk to life and property.
5
Best writer at The Stranger, and that's a pool of very good writers.
6
Yeah, cultural and time-honored as well: I remember reading an account of an American obstetrician who was present for the 1923 Tokyo earthquake. Her hotel was destroyed and she was forced to sleep in the park with hundreds of Tokyo citizens. She was in awe of how calm, generous, well-organized and polite the people were in the midst of tragedy. No looting, not even any complaining. Someone brough bottles of milk for her friend'ls baby. A confirmation of one of our favorite cultural stereotypes about the Japanese, looks like.
7
It can't be 'cultural' to a Marxist like Charles. I mean, can we use the same cultural argument to explain the raping and looting after the Haiti earthquake?
8
Or maybe your expectations of reality are tainted by media? You assume people are going to be running around screaming because that's what happens in the movies, but how often do you see that in real life?

What do you expect these people to do? They're in about the safest spot they can be -- outdoors with nothing overhead. I don't think it's cultural. It's just normal human behavior. You should know this stuff, Charles.
10
Of course they're calm! It's not like it's another Godzilla attack!
11
I love the armchair anthropology. Isn't it always a bit naive to explain any behaviour unilaterally?
12
@7
Because Japan is not poverty-stricken like Haiti, you ass.
13
@12 plenty of poverty in japan during the Tokyo earthquake in 1925, no mass rapes in the tent cities then. None now.....and how does stealing a tv help you in a disaster?

And how does poverty explain the epidemic of rape in Haitian refugee camps as reported in the NYT? it was Charles who brought up the idea of 'cultural' differences, not I.
14
Earthquakes are pretty common and they've had a bunch this week leading up to the big one.
I've been there for a few 4.0s and most Japanese didn't even blink or hang around breathlessly talking about it. They took cover, then when it stopped shaking took a quick assessment that all was clear and returned to whatever they were doing.
Maybe it's cultural, but mostly it's training and routine.
15
@13
-“Living in squalid, overcrowded and spontaneous camps for a prolonged period has aggravated levels of violence and appalling standards of living,” the Refugees International report said. The humanitarian response to the earthquake “appears paralyzed.” (1)

-In the aftermath of the quake, mass murder of Koreans by brutal mobs occurred in urban Tokyo and Yokohama, fueled by rumors of rebellion and sabotage.[10] Some newspapers reported the rumors as fact, which led to the most deadly rumor of all: that the Koreans were poisoning wells.(2)

You put someone in a shitty condition long enough, you can destroy their common decency and drive them to the unthinkable.

-The results of the experiment are said to support situational attribution of behavior rather than dispositional attribution. In other words, it seemed the situation caused the participants' behavior, rather than anything inherent in their individual personalities.(3)
16
@13: Oh yes, unlike Haitians, the Japanese are on the whole too culturally civilized ever to engage in mass rape.

You fucking racist douchebag.

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