Hi , Dan. Mainly because i'm working with Japanese coordinators on the Honda plant here,and because i'm a bit familiar with their culture,i tought i did recognise awareness of their still living Bushido code of conduct. You where aware of this when you wrote this ....
"Take the Katrina disaster in New Orleans as an example: Rather than doing something to help themselves, most New Orleans residents affected by the hurricane seemed to sit and wait, expecting someone else (the government) to help them. There were surges in lootings and crime. Bitchings and moanings were heard throughout the city: "why us, why us". Still now, years later, many homes there are sitting empty and a third of the city's residents are gone, relocated at government expense and probably still living off government aid. In Japan, not so. Rather than sitting around waiting for help, the residents are already busy cleaning and rebuilding their homes... even elderly people. There are no reports of looting. No one taking advantage of the situation for their own gain. They're helping one another out in any way they can. One elderly couple when interviewed said they were hurrying to clean and restore their own home so that they could then help others do the same. No one is asking "why us, why us". They are simply getting on with it." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Adrie) but i came sure about it after your last post to JA, writing this.. "That's interesting. I just read a historical novel called The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet which concerns Japan back in the late 1700s and the interactions of Dutch traders there in search of riches. Conversations between the Japanese and Dutch were always started by reciting the ancestry of the Shogun with whom they were dealing... the social standing, in other words. The novel depicted a very harsh moral code. Women were virtual slaves, most men too. To buck the code meant certain death. I would imagine the cultural mores today are perhaps a blend of those times with more modern Western morals. But I do understand that it is one of the most honest countries in the world. Dishonesty brings misfortune upon the whole family, from what I understand, so it is virtually unheard of." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bushido code,unwritten mostly... Allow me to make an addition,a very tiny one. I did not read the Thousand Autumns, because i know the story's. The addition is, that the Dutch traders, as 'Gajin' (strangers), had no rights after some time to set foot on the mainlands of Japan, they had the obligation to conduct their business on an island in front of the mainland. Their presence was unacceptable, their goods were welcome. Long time ago "Shogun" with Richard Chaimberlain was broadcasted here(1980), a series that was of a stunning historical quality, it was nearly reality. Nearly all historical details were worked out perfectly,.."Anjin-San" he was named in the series. So if you are interested in the Bushido code, its written in by not writing it in. If i observe the previous interaction with Dmb,..i think your mind framed the questions you made , back into the old times,"were did it go", why are people here just sitting around to wait,...if i frame it back in the time of the early settlers, the pioneers, Davy Crockett, how the west was won,...they had the same spirited, sparkling will to succeed, alone, and in group, individuals acting towards the same goals. You are seeking what went wrong since Davy Crocket,the founding fathers,the Appoloprogram, Chuck Yeager,...you are seeking were the tought, the striven of Quality was left behind...because you are aware of the fact that Japan is Quality driven. Thx for the Fema-link. We have something similar since 5 years, flooding happens all the time here in the lowlands. Its a habbit. 2011/3/18 Dan Glover <[email protected]> > Hello everyone > > On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 2:28 PM, MarshaV <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > My heart is aching for the people in Japan. I don't get the hype from > > television, but I have been paying attention to events posted on the > > Internet, and it is all awful beyond words. It is so awful it is hard to > > believe it is really happening, yet I know it is. The question 'Why?' > > sticks in my throat and I choke. It is unbearably awful. > > Hi Marsha > > Like you I don't have cable tv so I've been following the unfolding > disaster in Japan via the Internet. What strikes me most is how > differently the Japanese culture handles such catastrophes as compared > to our own. > > Take the Katrina disaster in New Orleans as an example: Rather than > doing something to help themselves, most New Orleans residents > affected by the hurricane seemed to sit and wait, expecting someone > else (the government) to help them. There were surges in lootings and > crime. Bitchings and moanings were heard throughout the city: "why us, > why us". Still now, years later, many homes there are sitting empty > and a third of the city's residents are gone, relocated at government > expense and probably still living off government aid. > > In Japan, not so. Rather than sitting around waiting for help, the > residents are already busy cleaning and rebuilding their homes... even > elderly people. There are no reports of looting. No one taking > advantage of the situation for their own gain. They're helping one > another out in any way they can. One elderly couple when interviewed > said they were hurrying to clean and restore their own home so that > they could then help others do the same. No one is asking "why us, why > us". They are simply getting on with it. > > Why are there such differences? > > I think it may have something to do with how we in the West are > socially conditioned to the desire to possess value rather than > realizing that that is impossible... rather, value possesses us. It > struck me in my recent conversation with Ham (and in past > conversations with Platt) that the desire to possess value, the love > of money if you will, is indeed the source of all suffering. > > This is quite foreign to me personally. In the past I shrugged it off > as inconsequential... that most people didn't feel that way. But more > and more, I am seeing that our Western culture is infected far more > deeply with this sickness (and it is a sickness, though of social > significance rather than biological) than is the East. It is this > negative face of Quality that we tend to mistake for better. > > Thoughts? > > Dan > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html > -- parser Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
