[Smokin' Joe]

Let me put it this way. What does anyone here think the result would be in America if such devastation were unleashed on an American city and its environs? Katrina may be a valid reference.

I have heard no reports of looting, and that alone speaks volumes.

[Old_Grouch]

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.

[SampleMan]

Depends on the are of America. I've seen towns in the Midwest leveled by tornadoes and there wasn't any looting. Just hard work and diligence.

Handouts turn people into expectant, unappreciative, disrespectful oafs.

[usmom]

No looting of TV’s, beer and athletic shoes! No trashing of, violence and rapes in the shelter they are given. No pushing, shoving, violence in lines. No demanding somebody else do something/give them something. No debit cards with people buying Gucci purses with them. And I’m sure there will be no people demanding and getting free housing and money for 5 years afterward. They will pull together, rebuild and help each other. The comparisons are astonishing.

[AmericanInTokyo]

There will not be a single, repeat, SINGLE case of rape, carjacking, liquor store holdup or looting in this tragedy in Japan while it plays out for weeks on end, in areas where millions are effected. People might well, out of hunger and desperation, take some food from convenience stores out of desperation, but will leave the amount of money for the goods with an apology note on it right on the counter, if there is not counter person in the store. And nobody else will TOUCH that money nor steal it.

This is Japan.

This is the Japanese.

Probably the most "Christian" non-Christian people on the face of the earth.