Posted on 03/14/2011 2:01:54 AM PDT by sushiman
I've been here ( Japan ) a long time , so what I have seen does not surprise me : the people's resilience ; the community spirit ; the never give up attitude ; the discipline ; etc...I would love to hear what your impressions have been , watching from halfway around the world .
Japanese stoicism may be a valid impression, I don’t know. However, let me remind everyone that the whole Gulf Coast was hit by Katrina, and not all the reaction was like that of New Orleans. In many areas the people just put their shoulders to the grindstone and started to rebuild.
Searching for survivors despite knowing they’ll get dosed with radiation in the area of the reactors, the reactor crews staying at their posts with the knowledge they may not live long afterwards.
Both acting on the glimmer of hope that their actions will give someone else a fighting chance even at personal cost to them.
Accurate assessment?
I don’t know, I haven’t been able to keep up with it.
But that is the impression I get on that aspect of things.
No. That term is Mandarin Chinese in origin.
Gung = work
ho = (when used in this application) signifies co-operation
Gung ho = work together.
OK, I just have top point out.
Yakuza = NOT honorable!
Same with the illicit “Soap Works”, kiddy porn, drug culture, etc.
Japan has many if not most of the same issues we do.
They also have access to criminal “persuasion” techniques that would be unconstitutional here.
Beating to gain a confession is legal and not unusual, FEAR can be a factor in most remaining demure in the face of disaster.
I visited Japan several times in the 80’s, I personally installed their very first “Voicemail” system.
The Japanese are generous host, they can be great business partners.
But in reality their morals are just not the same as ours.
A mistress is a sign of success, intellectual theft is not so much a crime but being caught at it is.
Evening drunkenness is a national pastime.
I also quickly learned they are often incredibly arrogant, to the point of risking their careers over trivial assumptions.
I enjoyed my trips there, it’s unlikely I will ever go back only due to expense and having no legitimate reason to return as I no longer work in electronics.
I hope my old working partner Kenji Sagusa, his wife, and mistress are all OK.
I also hope the Yakuza mobsters do not take too much advantage of the situation, skimming from the rebuilding, etc.
The Japanese have experience with this type of disaster, they will clean it up and rebuild.
Uh, I’ve decided that “diversity” of culture is not our strength.
There is something to be said for a harmonious culture, where everyone understands what sort of conduct is expected and condoned.
Much has been contrasted to the conduct of Americans during Katrina. It’s important to note that the behavior of poor black Americans in these circumstances is not race-based; it’s cultural and unique to blacks indoctrinated in liberal victimhood. When you speak to new arrivals directly from Africa, they sincerely cannot understand why black Americans are so mad.
They arrive here, and like immigrants before them, learn the language if they don’t already know it (although many speak the Queen’s English to begin with) and they get a cab license, open a shop, or get a job (so they can raise the cash to open a shop later). They are industrious. Most, if not all, will tell you that they don’t feel any discrimination at all. It is for this very reason that immigrants from Africa DO NOT ALLOW their American-born children to associate with black African-Americans. They have nothing in common with these children and moreover, they don’t want them to “contaminate” their kids. (Contamination is their word, not mine.)
Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and their ilk can be the ones you send the Thank You notes to.....
I lived in Japan for two years as a kid, and I like and respect the Japanese.
I have always admired their incredible stoicism in the face of hardship. This is no exception.
It makes me a little embarrassed, but I have to keep in mind that Americans have shown their mettle too in some situations, though not all.
I pray for the Japanese.
I will admit I have a slight bias in favor of the Japanese. One of my best friends when I was little was Japanese, an older girl who took time to play with one much younger. I always thought she was beautiful, had gorgeous long, black hair and I loved to hear her speak. She was born in the US and was bilingual.
From the first news announcement I felt that Japan would put us to shame when dealing with tragedy on such a wide scale. Behavior during Katrina was disgusting and I live too near and used to work in Detroit, a man-made continuing disaster. I know it’s early yet, but I have no doubts Japan will rebuild and heal quickly. Unlike Katrina and Haiti, I have no reservations about donating to help speed things up.
The ability for the government and industry to lie effortlessly is pretty impressive
Honestly? Japan is reacting exactly as I expected they would from the first moment I heard about it; politely and efficiently.
Bataan Death March pretty much says it all. They are great until they have a bayonet in your back. They will bounce back because they are Japanese. But don’t trust them with your life(i.e. radiation).
I had a Japanese boss at one time. Definitely very cool under pressure.
A friend sent me photos of modern day Hiroshima and Detroit. When you compare these cities now and 60 years ago you realize how different our societies are.
I am very impressed with their resilience and calm. It’s too bad our media people headed out there. You know they are going to turn it into a circus of misinformation and finger pointing.
“...often incredibly arrogant, to the point of risking their careers over trivial assumptions.”
An example, please?
Jackson showed the crowd how to make Molotov cocktails, beat up whites and Asians, and urged them to pick out now that new 60" 3-D LCD/LED set they want at Best Buy so that when they start looting, burning and killing they'll know exactly where to go and what to steal!
I was in Hurricane Katrina on the Mississippi Gulf Coast..was driving a two year old Mercedes..paid cash for it.
My total assistance was a grilled cheeseburger..from a retired Air Force Colonel who came from Florida with his two daughters. He set up on Hwy 49 in the Sams parking lot. I came from Montgomery to see the damage..after I evacuated.
There was no gas..no food available..The grilled cheeseburgers were tempting and it was what I needed.
Had to over night in a gas station parking lot in Mobile.
I am amazed at how organized the Japanese people are, but after looking at all the photos, there is one question that puzzles me.
Do Japanese people ever buy cars that aren’t white?
Because Japan is such a very disciplined society by world standards, they are handling this tremendous tragedy amazingly well. Otherwise, they couldn’t have easily handled something like the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake (which pretty much destroyed most of Tokyo and Yokohama areas) or even the effects of World War II.
Admittedly, this doesn't extend to the kind of group shame over their military's behavior during WWII which the Germans so overtly express (one can blame this as much on MacArthur and his need to get them back on their feet and in line against the Soviets as anyone - Japanese civilians weren't hustled out of the rubble through the POW and concentration camps and their children were never taught the truth about the war) but you don't find any tolerance for sloth and squalor, nor any tendency to blame others for one's own bad choices and fate.
They are a unique and remarkably disciplined people. You may not have the many years experience in dealing with them some of us have and only see the negatives. Their perverse media is what it is, but before casting too many stones, have you heard about the 11 year old gang rape victim in Texas and the pedo ring they just broke up in that small British town? The Japanese people today, not the adults of 65 plus years ago, are very deserving of respect and our help right now.
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