FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

In the wake of Japan's deadly earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant explosions, we have witnessed the almost indescribable chaos that follows a disaster of this magnitude: loss of life, severe injuries, homelessness, lack of water, food and proper medical care, the physical destruction of towns and cities, and a growing fear of radioactive contamination from power plants that seem beyond anyone's ability to control.

But one heart-wrenching byproduct of disasters like this one has been missing in Japan, and that’s looting and lawlessness.

Looting is something we see after almost every tragedy; for example: last year's earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, the floods in England in 2007, and of course Hurricane Katrina back in 2005. It happens when some people who've seen life as they know it get tossed out the window feel that all morality has been tossed out too. It's survival of the fittest and whatever you can get your hands on is yours, no matter who it belongs to.

But that's not happening in Japan.

Journalist and social commentator Ed West wrote in the UK Telegraph yesterday how struck he was by the Japanese culture throughout this ordeal. He observed how supermarkets cut their prices in the days following the quake and how vending machine owners were giving out free drinks as "people work together to survive." And West was most surprised by the fact that there was no looting.

Many have pointed to the popularity of Japan's distinctive Buddhist and Shinto religions as well as how the values of conformity and consensus are considered virtues in their culture. That's one explanation, but it probably has something to do with remaining true to your moral code even in the darkest hours.

Here’s my question to you: Why is there no looting in Japan?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?


Kim:
Because Japanese culture, unlike all other modern cultures, is based primarily on honor and dignity. Unlike our Katrina disaster, the Japanese don't see this as an opportunity to steal everything in sight. The so-called civilized world can learn much from the stoic Japanese.

Greg in Arkansas:
Two words: National pride. The people of Japan love their country and do what is best for the nation, unlike the United States where we love our country and do what is best for ourselves.

Natasha:
The Japanese are resourceful, innovative and disciplined people with a great sense of national pride. While they also have criminals and felons, it is not quite in comparison to the sleaze balls we have in our streets. It was disgusting to watch these scum bags loot stores in New Orleans during Katrina when they should have helped their fellow citizens in need. While watching the devastation in Japan is heart wrenching, it is so refreshing to see the civility of people within the calamity they are facing.

Larry in Georgetown, Texas:
Jack, I was blessed to visit Japan several years ago on business and was told that if I lost my wallet in downtown Tokyo that the person who found it would make it their mission to return it to me in tact. These people are very gracious and kind.

Carol:
Sociologists will tell you that the lack of looting is just the result of large numbers of people developing a more orderly society to cope with living in a smaller land mass. Personally, I've always thought it's because they're a more highly evolved race.

Joy:
It's the Japanese culture - very refined, dignified, disciplined and civilized. We should all learn from them. They're the types of people you help out willingly because you know that they'll make full use of any opportunity to get back on their feet.

Richard:
I don't really know. It would be easy to say that they are a very homogeneous society and perhaps in a way consider each other family. In any case they are to be applauded.

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/15/why-is-there-no-looting-in-japan/

Very instructive.

The Japanese have a homogenous country that prides itself in their culture, their language and their history.

Of course you would not find looting in a country that prides itself on respect and national unity.

Don't Americans pride themselves on respect and national unity?

Well, maybe not.

johnie:



Natasha:
The Japanese are resourceful, innovative and disciplined people with a great sense of national pride. While they also have criminals and felons, it is not quite in comparison to the sleaze balls we have in our streets. It was disgusting to watch these scum bags loot stores in New Orleans during Katrina when they should have helped their fellow citizens in need. While watching the devastation in Japan is heart wrenching, it is so refreshing to see the civility of people within the calamity they are facing.

Culture.

Posted by: PhysicsMHD

Culture.

If you want to address an issue truthfully, do so COMPLETELY.

Yes it is culture (duh! ). . . but I would say cultural HOMOGENEITY -they believe in the same sets of ethos and values.

That is what is missing in any country where people steal at any given opportunity, and I don't care how "civilized" the country is.

A friend who once visited Botswana in southern Africa described something similar to the Japanese culture of dignified and calm decency.

Those of us who would rather have an Igbo-only country are mainly inspired by this philosophy.

Wealth is much more than money. It includes being able to sleep with both eyes closed every night, going to where ever you wished with your doors left unlocked, and returning to find your house intact.

That is what is missing in Nigeria and similar countries worldwide.

The dominant culture in Nigeria is one handed down from politics which is the "ba kwomi" culture of the Hausa(the dominant political force in Nigeria since after the war), which sweeps every evil under the carpet. Same has permeated other cultures which are on the receiving side.

Armed robbery for instant was a product of the Nigerian civil war where Nigerian soldiers (dominated by northerners) looted and raped on their way into Biafra and Igboland. Most of the Biafran soldiers used to believe that if they looted or raped, they never made it back home alive, they believed they would die at the fronts, so they desisted.
But aboki never believed that, and alas they won!

So, people started copying that and today we are far into theft of billions of dollars.

Even as a child, I remember that in my home town, people used to leave their doors open even in the night. Today they build high fences complete with barbed wires on top of the walls.

Well, the rest is history!

@ Onlytruth, what are you talking about? Cultural homogeneity has nothing to do with looting or not looting. I don't understand how anyone can think ethnic or cultural homogeneity prevents criminals from committing crime against those exactly like themselves. There's no evidence for it.

Looting has more to do with the number of poor people or the existence of an underclass within a society, in my opinion.

I was talking about the actual culture of the Japanese. Apart from the fact that there aren't really enough poor people there for there to be any looting, that's a culture where words like "honor" and "disgrace" still have real meaning. Just look at the suicides by corrupt, compromised, or disgraced businessmen in that country.That's what my response meant. The culture they have produced gives them a different outlook on honor and shame from some other societies. If people in Japan would rather commit suicide than endure living with their shame or disgrace, and this is not considered out of the ordinary, how will this same group of people ever deign to scavenge other people's property for personal gain, knowing the shame and disgrace they could bring upon themselves and their relatives by doing so?


As for the rest of your post, I don't know how you reached the conclusion that armed robbery came out of the civil war or that people are operating according to the "culture" of Hausa (you mean Fulani?) politicians.

^-- I dunno why you bothered responding to the dude. He has an agenda, and will push it regardless 

Interesting comments, PhysicsMHD.

However, I'm hesitant to accept that explanation fully. . . we Westerns have a habit of romanticizing Eastern cultures.

I'm wondering a bit if this is the media only putting out stories that fit in with certain pre-conceived notions.

With that said, I wouldn't be surprised if Japanese are intrinsically less inclined to loot. Just I've not seen evidence of this yet. . .

PhysicsMHD:

@ Onlytruth, what are you talking about? Cultural homogeneity has nothing to do with looting or not looting. I don't understand how anyone can think ethnic or cultural homogeneity prevents criminals from committing crime against those exactly like themselves. There's no evidence for it.

Looting has more to do with the number of poor people or the existence of an underclass withing a society, in my opinion.

I was talking about the actual culture of the Japanese. Apart from the fact that there aren't really enough poor people there for there to be any looting, that's a culture where words like "honor" and "disgrace" still have real meaning. Just look at the suicides by corrupt, compromised, or disgraced businessmen in that country.That's what my response meant. The culture they have produced gives them a different outlook on honor and shame from some other societies. If people in Japan would rather commit suicide than endure living with their shame or disgrace, and this is not considered out of the ordinary, how will this same group of people ever deign to scavenge other people's property for personal gain, knowing the shame and disgrace they could bring upon themselves and their relatives by doing so?
As for the rest of your post, I don't know how you reached the conclusion that armed robbery came out of the civil war or that people are operating according to the "culture" of Hausa (you mean Fulani?) politicians.

Gbam, gbam, gbam! This is exactly what is lacking in many other societies. Nigeria being a prime example.

ekt_bear:

^-- I dunno why you bothered responding to the dude. He has an agenda, and will push it regardless 

Interesting comments, PhysicsMHD.

However, I'm hesitant to accept that explanation fully. . . we Westerns have a habit of romanticizing Eastern cultures.

I'm wondering a bit if this is the media only putting out stories that fit in with certain pre-conceived notions.

With that said, I wouldn't be surprised if Japanese are intrinsically less inclined to loot. Just I've not seen evidence of this yet. . .

I think he was genuinely expressing his belief rather than promoting an agenda. I just think it has no basis. Saying that separate, homogeneous states where the leadership is more accountable to their people than to a political cabal at the center would possibly result in less political corruption is one thing. Asserting that the average man on the street would suddenly be less likely to loot his own neighborhood/city/area after a disaster if his group were in their own culturally homogeneous state is something else entirely.

You are right about the romanticizing trend, but in the case of Japan, I think that perception of them is somewhat legitimate.

See here for example:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/26/asia.suicide/

It mostly focuses on South Korea, but the parallels are there.


Also see:  http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/03/19/lah.japan.suicide.forest.cnn?iref=videosearch

A "suicide forest." Very interesting. Very different from Western behavior. Note that the first guy (Taro) was not just driven by debt and unemployment, but also admitted shame as a reason for his earlier suicide attempt.

^-- Not completely sold.

High propensity to commit suicide for errors => No looting?

Poor Indian farmers who have borrowed heavily to farm commit suicide after bad harvests. I don't think anyone is saying that India is a corruption or looting-free country, though.


As an aside, the suicide stuff to me is very honorable. Reminds me of those obas of old. . . I wish we would revive that custom in Yorubaland.

The Japanese have about 90% of educated people. And its been called the most educated nation in the planet.
Why should there be looting. In Nigeria, even our education doesnt teach us how to speak good english thats why Dame Goodluck couldnt even prove shes a higher tetiary product. Quality eudcation results in proper conduct.

ekt_bear:

^-- Not completely sold.

High propensity to commit suicide for errors => No looting?

Poor Indian farmers who have borrowed heavily to farm commit suicide after bad harvests. I don't think anyone is saying that India is a corruption or looting-free country, though.


As an aside, the suicide stuff to me is very honorable. Reminds me of those obas of old. . . I wish we would revive that custom in Yorubaland.

Yeah, you're right in that the claim seems tenuous. I really think the low amount of poor people is the main thing. But I can't imagine people who would commit suicide for mistakes or failure or other events that reduce their dignity and standing later going around and trying to pick through the remains of someone else's property to see what they can get. I really think personal pride and self-respect is deeply embedded in the culture.

As for the suicide thing, yeah I find it kind of impressive too, but there's no way you could revive it in modern times. In the past, some of the Obas' wives and closest servants committed suicide with them. Even if that was dropped, there's no way it would come back because if an Oba did commit suicide, the community would probably not even understand. They would probably see the act of committing suicide after the disgrace as disgraceful itself, rather than as something naturally following the shame/disgrace. This modern point of view is not necessarily a bad thing, in my opinion.

PhysicsMHD:

Yeah, you're right in that the claim seems tenuous. I really think the low amount of poor people is the main thing. But I can't image people who would commit suicide for mistakes or failure or other events that reduce their dignity and standing later going around and trying to pick through the remains of someone else's property to see what they can get. I really think personal pride and self-respect is deeply embedded in the culture.

Hrm. Well, Japanese clearly do wrong things, just like everyone else. Maybe less frequently, I dunno. The issue is, if they are CAUGHT, or publicly shamed, they are more inclined to commit suicide. So I don't think this fact (if we accept it as a fact) necessarily means less looting.

More likely to be embarassed after looting? Yes. (Contrast this with Bode George (or most Nigerian crooks) who view getting caught/punished as a witchhunt  )

Less likely to loot? Not clear.

As for the suicide thing, yeah I find it kind of impressive too, but there's no way you could revive it in modern times. In the past, some of the Obas' wives and closest servants committed suicide with them. Even if that was dropped, there's no way it would come back because if an Oba did commit suicide, the community would probably not even understand. They would probably see the act of committing suicide after the disgrace as disgraceful itself, rather than as something naturally following the shame/disgrace. This modern point of view is not necessarily a bad thing, in my opinion.

Hrm, you are probably right.

I'd like to see Gbenga Daniel encouraged to commit suicide for his crimes against Ogun State, though. And I'm not joking at all when I say this.

Nigerians learn, thats if you can

@PhysicsMHD

What I'm saying is that what you see in Japan is the result of a cultural homogeneity among a people -they all believe the same thing. For instance honor, dignity, suicide.
Supposing Japan is made up of 25% Russians, 25% Uzbeks, 30% Japanese, and 15% Arabs, do you think there won't be looting or something similar? Do you think that the Japanese culture would dominate those of Russians or Arabs etc?
Supposing the Japanese believe in violence only as a last resort to self defense (as is usually the case), would the Arab agree with that? The best you can hope for in such a country is RULE OF LAW, not culture.
Brain dead Eku_bear was blabbing until he mentioned the Oba suicides in the Yoruba land of the olden days. In Igboland, suicide was considered the worst form of taboo, and perpetrators were cast into the evil forest; never to be buried! 
You see cultural difference?  

In my part of Igboland, before the war, people could go to the farm and forget to bring home their farm produce. Nobody dared touch them. Ever!

When the Oba of Benin cast a curse on kidnappers, it worked for a few days, until non-indigenes said bleep the oba, and continued with their crimes. I bet you that if it was only binis, they won't dare, 'cos they believe the Oba's curse would affect them.

Finally, yes, the civil war launched armed robbery in Nigeria. My parents recall that before the war, if a thief entered your compound, all you needed do was raise your voice and ask "who is that!" and the thief would take to his heels!

Today, they would kidnap you, tell you where to bring millions of naira whether you like it or not. If they want to be brash, they simply come to your house and shout "who is there!" and everybody would take to his heels!
What a turn of events, because we are experimenting with babel!  

ekt_bear:

Hrm. Well, Japanese clearly do wrong things, just like everyone else. Maybe less frequently, I dunno. The issue is, if they are CAUGHT, or publicly shamed, they are more inclined to commit suicide. So I don't think this fact (if we accept it as a fact) necessarily means less looting.

More likely to be embarassed after looting? Yes. (Contrast this with Bode George (or most Nigerian crooks) who view getting caught/punished as a witchhunt  )

Less likely to loot? Not clear.

Well, I would assume the embarrassment is a kind of deterrent. You're right in that it's not clear cut and can't really be demonstrated that avoidance of personal shame or a damaged reputation is the main thing keeping them from engaging in any looting. I guess it's an unprovable assumption on my part. Call it a gut feeling or intuition.

I'd like to see Gbenga Daniel encouraged to commit suicide for his crimes against Ogun State, though. And I'm not joking at all when I say this.

Can't say I disagree.

We have forsaken our cultural institutions! My ancestors would be ashamed of all the abominations that occur in Igboland daily.

Nigeria has not been good to the various Igbo clans.

Frankly, Nigeria has not been good to anyone.

@OnlyTruth: Me, brain dead? With all due respect. . . you aren't even in my league. Please, do not embarrass yourself any further.

PhysicsMHD:

Well, I would assume the embarrassment is a kind of deterrent. You're right in that it's not clear cut and can't really be demonstrated that avoidance of personal shame or a damaged reputation is the main thing keeping them from engaging in any looting. I guess it's an unprovable assumption on my part. Call it a gut feeling or intuition.

Fair enough. You might be right; I honestly do not know. I'd have to live in the country for some time to get a better sense of things. But honestly, many stereotypes I had before in my mind about different peoples (Texans, Californians, Mexicans, Canadians, etc, etc) ended up being false. I think on an individual level, people aren't too different. They generally want the same things, have the same goals, aspirations, etc.

@ekt_bear

You brought the verdict upon yourself when you decided to twist my words out of context. What do you mean by "he has an agenda?" So I cannot hold an opinion again because I might offend your sensibilities?

^-- I don't have a problem with you having an opinion. But I've noticed that for you, everything that ails Igboland is someone else's fault.

I mean, look at this:

Onlytruth:

Armed robbery for instant was a product of the Nigerian civil war where Nigerian soldiers (dominated by northerners) looted and violated on their way into Biafra and Igboland. Most of the Biafran soldiers used to believe that if they looted or violated, they never made it back home alive, they believed they would die at the fronts, so they desisted.
But aboki never believed that, and alas they won!

Perhaps I misread your statement. But are you really blaming armed robbery in Igboland specifically on the North and Hausa man?  That it was the Hausa man who taught Igbos to commit armed robbery?

Don't you think that is a bit unfair? And more importantly, not accurate?

I fully blame the Northerners for making Nigeria a poor country, robbing people of economic opportunity. This caused them to turn to crime in order to make up the difference. And I'm sure that there are other factors.

But directly blaming them, in the way you did?  It is too simplistic and frankly inaccurate.

I don't even like the North. But if some youths in my village steal and blame it on the Hausa, I'll not be happy with that explanation at all. People have to take responsibility for their own actions, in my opinion.

One answer: Confucian principles. Every Oriental person is taught these from early childhood as a matter of state policy. A form of social engineering.

It's the sort of philosophy, borne of traditional legacies, that is desperately needed in Africa.

Especially urban, ''modern'' Africa where the restraining, civilizing effects of African tradition are less visible.

Africans still retain their civility, but this is confined to the 'old' Africa of the village.

If disaster were to strike my village in Igboland, I know for sure that there will be no looting.

At core, African culture is every bit as civilized as Japanese culture. The 'chaos' we see in modern Africa is a result of the cultural vacuum left by the suppression of African cultural values by the slave trade and colonial interregnum.


Arab Explorer, Ibn Battutta who visited Mali in the 12th century, wrote:

''The negroes possess some admirable qualities. They are seldom unjust, and have a greater abhorrence of injustice than any other people. Their sultan shows no mercy to anyone who is guilty of the least act of it. There is complete security in their country. Neither traveller nor inhabitant in it has anything to fear from robbers or men of violence. They do not confiscate the property of any white man who dies in their country, even if it be uncounted wealth. On the contrary, they give it into the charge of some trustworthy person among the whites, until the rightful heir takes possession of it.''

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1354-ibnbattuta.html

That's the real Africa.

Onlytruth:

@PhysicsMHD

What I'm saying is that what you see in Japan is the result of a cultural homogeneity among a people -they all believe the same thing. For instance honor, dignity, suicide.
Supposing Japan is made up of 25% Russians, 25% Uzbeks, 30% Japanese, and 15% Arabs, do you think there won't be looting or something similar? Do you think that the Japanese culture would dominate those of Russians or Arabs etc?
Supposing the Japanese believe in violence only as a last resort to self defense (as is usually the case), would the Arab agree with that? The best you can hope for in such a country is RULE OF LAW, not culture.

Ok, I understand what you're saying now. However, I would have to point out that it doesn't follow that because cultural heterogeneity might,  in certain scenarios, result in one or more of the 4 groups' culture overriding that of the Japanese and making them act in an "un-Japanese" manner and start looting, that cultural heterogeneity necessarily results in "Japanese" cultural behavior being overridden or negatively impacted. What if you had said 25% Chinese, 25% Japanese, 25% Indian, 25% German? I can't assert what would happen in such an arrangement as I'm no expert on these cultures, but what if it just so happens that the other different cultures (Chinese, Indian, German) have cultural values regarding honor and shame, which - even if not as "extreme" as that of the Japanese - match up well with or even positively impact that  of the Japanese?


Cultural homogeneity might preclude any scenario where a group's cultural inclinations or behavior are overridden, but it doesn't necessarily follow that cultural heterogeneity must result in a group's cultural inclinations/behavior in some or all areas (such as honor, shame, or crime) being overridden.

I also have to ask, what if it's the case that the trade-off, for all 4 groups involved, is actually optimal and actually a good thing in terms of culturally transforming each group? I mean what if the Russians learn about the importance of honor and dignity to the point where their corrupt businessmen, leaders, etc. commit suicide or refrain from corruption out of fear of shame, and the Arabs and Uzbeks learn optimal business/economic strategies and technological focus from the Japanese, the Japanese could learn to be dominant/prominent in international politics from the Russians, etc. etc.

I think your claim presupposes that there is one culturally superior group (Japanese) who can only be negatively impacted by the other three. There could be positive and negative impacts on each of the four from the other groups and there could definitely be an arrangement of some four groups that could result in a net positive impact on the constituents of the country by their union, thus making cultural heterogeneity a superior alternative to cultural homogeneity. I suspect that there are already some countries in existence where this (mostly) mutually beneficial cultural fusion is exactly what happened and where what we think of today as one national culture is actually a fusion of cultures.

When the Oba of Benin cast a curse on kidnappers, it worked for a few days, until non-indigenes said bleep the oba, and continued with their crimes. I bet you that if it was only binis, they won't dare, 'cos they believe the Oba's curse would affect them.

While it is true that the criminals in Benin city that rushed the palace begging for forgiveness after the curse were almost certainly all Binis, I haven't seen anything to suggest that any or all kidnapping that happened after the curse was necessarily committed by or due to the influence of non-indigenes. I would assume that the lower amount of influence and authority of the Oba of Benin in modern times is the actual explanation for the continued kidnapping and robbery even after the curse.

Finally, yes, the civil war launched armed robbery in Nigeria. My parents recall that before the war, if a thief entered your compound, all you needed do was raise your voice and ask "who is that!" and the thief would take to his heels!

Today, they would kidnap you, tell you where to bring millions of naira whether you like it or not. If they want to be brash, they simply come to your house and shout "who is there!" and everybody would take to his heels!
What a turn of events, because we are experimenting with babel!  

I can't say you're wrong about how things were or weren't before the war and after, but I don't see it as clear that the change was because of the war, rather than because of the deterioration of Nigeria and Nigeria's failure to develop.

ROSSIKE:

One answer: Confucian principles. Every Oriental person is taught these from early childhood as a matter of state policy. A form of social engineering.

For the part in bold, proof?

I know that Confucian works were read as the "Classics" for youth in Japan in pre-European times, but are you sure that that is still going on?

It's the sort of philosophy, borne of traditional legacies, that is desperately needed in Africa.

Especially urban, ''modern'' Africa where the restraining, civilizing effects of African tradition are less visible.

Africans still retain their civility, but this is confined to the 'old' Africa of the village.

If disaster were to strike my village in Igboland, I know for sure that there will be no looting.

At core, African culture is every bit as civilized as Japanese culture. The 'chaos' we see in modern Africa is a result of the cultural vacuum left by the suppression of African cultural values by the slave trade and colonial interregnum.

You're probably right, with regard to some Africans.

i bet in nigeria and other parts of africa there wud hv been looting!!, even in the US, after hurricane katrina, there was general looting, [new orleans

looting is commonly associsted with poverty and bl***s, lol
its high time we change our mind set

MY EX-GIRLFRIEND WAS KNOCKED DOWN BY A BUS WHILE TRYING TO CROSS THE STREET. SHE WAS CARRYING A HANDBAG WHICH CONTAINED A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF MONEY AS WELL AS HER MOBILE PHONES. WHEN SHE AWOKE AFTER BEING KNOCKED OUT COLD, ALL HER ITEMS, INCLUDING HER WRIST WATCH WERE MISSING TILL DATE. SO SHAMELESS AND HEARTLESS SOME NIGERIANS HAVE BECOME.

Posted by: PhysicsMHD

I think your claim presupposes that there is one culturally superior group (Japanese) who can only be negatively impacted by the other three. There could be positive and negative impacts on each of the four from the other groups and there could definitely be an arrangement of some four groups that could result in a net positive impact on the constituents of the country by their union, thus making cultural heterogeneity a superior alternative to cultural homogeneity. I suspect that there are already some countries in existence where this (mostly) mutually beneficial cultural fusion is exactly what happened and where what we think of today as one national culture is actually a fusion of cultures.

@PhysicsMHD

All I am really saying is that in a country where there are DIFFERENT belief systems and cultural practices spread among different groups within that system, there can NOT be similar reaction to the same thing, eg, disasters.

If you take a look around the world, the only way to maintain "sameness of conduct" in culturally heterogeneous societies is through the use of force of law -police, law courts and jail. Nothing else.
This is a controversial view, but it remains the truth.

The example I gave about an assumed Japan made up of REALLY DIFFERENT nations, is spot on. The proportion of national representation in this cultural mix is really irrelevant. The point is that Japanese believe same things.

In Nigeria for instance, we don't believe same things. . .AT ALL. That is why there is constant looting, from the top government officials at the national level, to a guy standing by the way side waiting for an accident to happen. There is no sameness of view and culture.

ROSSIKE gave an example of what normally happens in Igboland. It is not a matter of being superior or right or wrong. It is just what it is.

Onlytruth:




In Nigeria for instance, we don't believe same things. . .AT ALL. That is why there is constant looting, from the top government officials at the national level, to a guy standing by the way side waiting for an accident to happen. There is no sameness of view and culture.

ROSSIKE gave an example of what normally happens in Igboland. It is not a matter of being superior or right or wrong. It is just what it is. 

How does this theory hold up against the fact that militants and kidnappers in the Niger Delta despite belonging to the same ethnic group or community attacked/kidnapped their own kind? Weren't those perpetrators culturally homogeneous with their victims?

In my village we have cultural homogenity, if egbe gas , looting will be like christmas come early

Onlytruth:

Posted by: PhysicsMHD
@PhysicsMHD

All I am really saying is that in a country where there are DIFFERENT belief systems and cultural practices spread among different groups within that system, there can NOT be similar reaction to the same thing, eg, disasters.

You actually believe that? The Germans and the Japanese are quite different culturally, but I'm willing to bet that their responses wouldn't be much different after a disaster (with regard to looting), although possibly for quite different reasons.

If you take a look around the world, the only way to maintain "sameness of conduct" in culturally heterogeneous societies is through the use of force of law -police, law courts and jail. Nothing else.
This is a controversial view, but it remains the truth.

This presupposes that one or more of the cultures in the culturally heterogeneous society will need to have the law applied to their conduct to make it the same as whatever conduct is the preferred conduct for the society as a whole. If the different types of conduct are different but are all "good" conduct, why would there be any need to enforce sameness?

The example I gave about an assumed Japan made up of REALLY DIFFERENT nations, is spot on. The proportion of national representation in this cultural mix is really irrelevant. The point is that Japanese believe same things.

How is it spot on? I think you basically insinuated that Russians and Arabs would loot, rather than behave as the Japanese did after their disaster. I don't know what insights about Arab or Russian culture you have that would make you think that their culturally induced behavior would deviate strongly from the behavior of Japanese after a natural disaster, but I suspect that you're just concocting the idea that they would loot after a natural disaster based on negative media images in recent times rather than on any concrete knowledge of Arabic cultures or Russian culture.

In Nigeria for instance, we don't believe same things. . .AT ALL. That is why there is constant looting, from the top government officials at the national level, to a guy standing by the way side waiting for an accident to happen. There is no sameness of view and culture.

Unity of culture, custom, and outlook could subliminally influence the behavior of politicians and the average man on the street, perhaps in a positive way, and possibly in negative ways (if aspects of the culture itself are negative or backwards), but what I was pointing out is that it simply does not follow that heterogeneity of culture and outlook necessarily results in negative behaviors among the populace or in good behavior being overridden.

ROSSIKE gave an example of what normally happens in Igboland. It is not a matter of being superior or right or wrong. It is just what it is. 

I'm pretty sure that when you said "Supposing Japan is made up of 25% Russians, 25% Uzbeks, 30% Japanese, and 15% Arabs, do you think there won't be looting or something similar? Do you think that the Japanese culture would dominate those of Russians or Arabs etc?", you assumed that looting (something negative) was a behavior that was more likely to emerge from people under the influence of one of the three non-Japanese cultures you gave as examples. In the same manner, an Uzbek, Russian, or Arab, that knows nothing about Igbo cultural behavior from first hand experience and only knows about Igbos from what he or she might have read or seen in the media, (which could be positive or negative, depending on the situation or events described/depicted) could make the same unprovable and negative assumption about what would happen if Igbos, Japanese, and two other groups were in that hypothetical four-culture Japan after a natural disaster.

No looting in Japan?  I would want to believe there are outliers in every statistics no matter how minute it might seem. . . .or is Japan simply a country full of satisfied people without greed?

That asides, I believe the Japanese culture is greatly influenced by several moments in History during which individuals have developed a certain rare sense of empathy and an ability to bond during severe catastrophic events, such as the setbacks suffered during the world war 2.  Additionally, the Japanese have a way of preserving their culture from external influence, it was reported that between the periods of 1633 and 1853, Japan was isolated from the rest of the world.  Foreigners were not allowed to enter, neither could any Japanese leave the country, a breech of this was said to have carried the capital punishment.

I'd like to believe that this is a period in which societal values were greatly enforced, and the Japanese people were thoroughly schooled to understand what Honor and shame meant, they were also lead to believe that it must be a great honor to serve and die for one's country, this probably is where the roots of KamiKaze fighting evolved from.

I believe this culture was simply passed down through subsequent generations.