Orientals tend to laugh when confronting fear or trauma or stress. It’s their form of an emotional release. Being of that background myself, I have not only seen it firsthand, I, too, sometimes catch myself suppressing laughter at inappropriate times. Hearing someone laugh when they are, in fact, in great emotional distress always has a haunting aspect to it.
Thanks.
It’s that or complete insanity. Like joking while facing trouble. To show fear is to lose face. If you can’t fight back there’s little to really help, laughter is the last thing you have left.