One thing that's unsettling is the article said an organized crime syndicate is helping keep order. WTF, that's a good thing? I wouldn't trust a crime organization to have my best interest in mind. From the article, "They make their money off extortion, prostitution, and drug trafficking. But they consider theft grounds for expulsion." Yeah, I'll trust those guys...not.

Anyway, lack of looting could be beneficial in a time like this. On the flip side, people who are accustomed not to loot could invite corruption from the powers that be. I learned in high school that a weak man is quiet (not saying all quiet men are weak). Sometimes, a group has to be boisterous to keep the government (and crime syndicates in this case) honest.

Japan is demographically completely different than the United States. Japan is mostly homogeneous. The United States is a melting pot that has a number of groups that are often not represented in the powers that be. U.S. history has shown that when a group always stays still and doesn't rock the boat, then their rights are trampled eventually. Nobody else really cares either, unless you speak up and make a commotion.

They aren't looting, because they are Japanese. It is that simple.

HJ

1 Culture,1 Language = Total Control!For 1000's of Years,Japan has Taught their Population the Ultimate Factor of Life is RESPECT,Get out of Line,& Your head is Gonna' Roll!Respect has Almost Become Instinctive for anyone Born,Issei or 1st Generation Japanese!Though the Beheadings have Stopped,The discipline of respect,remains a Constant!Shame of The Family Name/Crest, takes the place of the Beheadings,& The Only way to Undo Shame on your Family, is Hari-Kishi or Hari-Kari(Suicide),& For one reason or another,Japan has a High Suicide rate!Some families moved from Japan to avoid Shame or The Budo Discipline,Mostly to Brazil & The USA,Incomes the Nissei,Sonsei,Jisei,etc.Much of The Discipline of Respect,remains in These families,despite being 4th generation Japanese!I remember a Comedian once stating a Fact,which is True & Funny,"I saw something today,That Made my Day!Today,I saw a Japanese Bum"! As Rare as a 1943 Copper Penny!In many ways,they behave Poorly in Society,by American Standards,ie...Oonki-Buuki(Poop Games)Playing with Poop,& other things,Groping/Poking on Subways,& Other things That would get them listed on Megans Law Here in The States!But then again,That is their Culture,Not ours!I Apologize to The Sheriff/s for This politically loaded response,I Felt it was necessary to defend My Culture!If not for our Western Belief's,I guess we wouldn't have this Site to Begin With!CHEERS!

The Japanese have a completely different attitude to organized crime. They realize that prostitution, drug use and, to a certain extent, extortion are all inevitable expressions of certain sides of human nature. In the US we have a war on crime. In Japan they manage, channel, reduce the harm of crime. We try to eliminate prostitution. The Japanese manage it by keeping it in certain districts, making sure both prostitutes and Johns are protected and treating a lot of it as a public health issue.

The other side of this is that organized crime relates differently to the public. The organized crime groups have offices open to the public and the police often have liaison officers in those offices. In the US extortion cripples business and the extorted get nothing in return. In Japan the rates are much more reasonable and the Yakuza can be quite tough on street crime. Extortion of shop owners usually confers protection. Typically Yakuza protected shops don't get robbed and their owners can make large deposits alone at night without fear of street thugs. A person being harmed while under Yakuza protection would be an embarrassment.

In one case I was familiar with in the 70s a small gang of thieves took to holding up tourists. There were, by all accounts, very polite but fleeing from police a thief injured a tourist. The general consensus was that they had crossed a line. Both police and organized crime put out word that if the gang knew what was good for it they would turn themselves in ... and they did. Word went out that violent crime would not be tolerated and that robbing tourists was bad for business. Overnight a district where tourist were occasionally robbed became safe.

The Japanese are not keen on crime, but neither the law nor organized crime like disorder. It isn't good for business. People who are displaced and injured by a tsunami are not going to pay extortion. The sooner things get back to normal the faster organized crime can get back to making money. So organized crime helps control looting and street crime, buys and distributes food and water, and generally does what it can to help. Harmonization of interests is very Japanese.

"The Japanese have a completely different attitude to organized crime. They realize that prostitution, drug use and, to a certain extent, extortion are all inevitable expressions of certain sides of human nature. In the US we have a war on crime. In Japan they manage, channel, reduce the harm of crime ... The other side of this is that organized crime relates differently to the public. The organized crime groups have offices open to the public and the police often have liaison officers in those offices."

Sounds like we could take a few lessons from them. :-)

Out here in L.A. I am still getting opinions from people that if the Big One (major quake) is really bad then looting and mayhem are inevitable. We're not going to follow in Japan's footsteps. In a worst-case situation, our city may dissolve into total anarchy.

Yesterday my wife had a guy visiting her office. He told her during casual conversation that he was trying to buy as many guns as possible. She asked him why - since he didn't seem too crazy. He replied that his goal (after an earthquake) was to be able to distribute these guns to all his neighbors - so that everyone could defend themsevles collectively. He was concerned that individuals acting alone could not fend off attacks if a state of total lawlessness developed. So he is stockpiling guns and ammo.

That story is completely genuine. It's definitely on the far side - I haven't heard of anyone else doing this out here. But if we really do dissolve into anarchy ... then who knows?

Pete #2

I lived in Japan for six months. Before going over there, a fellow colleague told me not to get arrested because basically I wouldn't be getting out of jail for a long time. I'm not totally sold on the way Japan does things with respect to crime, but one thing is for sure: We're unlikely to hear about the situation from too many people who actually did something wrong.



I'll bite... That story is not as strange as you may think. What's strange to me is someone spending lots of time studying survival gear while ignoring protecting one's family. Some people talk about anarchy as if it's some strange concept that will never happen near them. Anarchy happens occasionally in areas of the U.S. It will continue to happen and get worse as each successive generation is less educated and more spoiled.

Note that during the Rodney King riots, the police basically drew a circle around a certain area and let it burn itself out. What would you do if your house were in that area? That's not a rhetorical question. Think it through. What if the whole state were in that area? You can say "just get out", but is that a realistic solution for EVERYBODY? What are you going to do for protection on the way as you're moving out? What are you going to do once you get to where you're going, just hope it's peaceful? What if you can't get completely away?

At some point, someone on your side is going to have to provide family protection in order to survive, whether it's the police, the army, your neighbor or if all that fails...you.

Art: "The Japanese are not keen on crime, but neither the law nor organized crime like disorder. It isn't good for business."

That is the answer, precisely.

Americans are control freaks, even for things that can't be controlled. Control here is an obsession, a very expensive obsession. And it doesn't work. You may not like prostitution, drug use, protection rackets, smuggling and loansharking, but it's always been around and will always be around.

Many/most of the victims of organized crime are actually willing victims, and got into it entirely through their own efforts. But many 'normal' people just don't understand that you will never protect people from themselves, not ever.

But organized crime does have rules, which is more than can be said for the current street gangs, which are composed mainly of vicious psychos.

Pre-gang days in Las Vegas, you could wander practically anywhere at any time of day or night, and you would be safe if you played by the rules. If you were a paying customer who just came to Vegas for the weekend to gamble, eat and see a show, fine. If your wallet was lifted between the airport and your hotel, you told the hotel clerk. More often than not, your wallet would be returned within 12-24 hrs (sometimes with a little more cash in it than you remembered having); if you happened to see a newspaper the next day, there might be a mention of a known pickpocket being found dead in the desert outside down. His advertised death was a warning to others who might have similar ideas: don't annoy the paying customer or This Could Happen to You.

In fact, the people who had either lived in Vegas for many years, or who had been visiting for many years, would be absolutely THRILLED if the Mafia would take over the town like it used to.

You aren't going to get perfection in this kind of business, so you'd be better off choosing the lesser of the evils.

For those of you who are too young to have heard it: If our government tried to run organized crime, they would screw it up. But if the Mafia ran our government, we would be in much better shape than we are now.

Sue

"the police basically drew a circle around a certain area and let it burn itself out. What would you do if your house were in that area? That's not a rhetorical question. Think it through. What if the whole state were in that area?"

That's an interesting point. I was kinda' thinking about that this evening. What if a major city became a mega-disaster? A meltdown in the whole framework of society? What if there were also special problems, such as major fires burning out of control, or radiation released from a nuke plant. I doubt that first responders and humanitarian groups would want to venture into such a place. It might actually make sense for the authorities to form a cordon around the city, and provide assistance to those who were escaping the area.

It could be pretty messy inside the disaster zone, though. It would mean that no-one was coming with food, meds and water (unless they were air-dropped). That would force the remaining survivors to fight for limited resources. It's probably not the normal scenario for a disaster zone where people might try to cooperate, but is conceivable for a mega-disaster.

AND BY THE WAY ... here's one guy who seems to believe that my home town could become a mega-disaster. It's kinda weird when people keep talking about the place where you live in apocalyptic terms. Ha! Ha!!

http://www.utopiasprings.com/megaqke.htm

Pete #2

Your cited link is a prime example of a very poor internet source - mostly half truths, speculation, and hazy thinking. There is much better information available, fortunately.