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american had a similar tragic devastating flood during hurricane katrina as japan . i was wondering if any of our brothers see a major differance in the will of the people ? namely there is no looting! those people did the same in the florida hurricane ,am i missing something?

Bob, I was reading a similar story today on the plane. One story of a grocery store owners generator ran out and he couldn't use his cash register. Patrons got off line and returned there groceries to the shelves and went outside until he could get more gas. 4 to 10 hours of bumper to bumper traffic and not a single horn honked. I wish I had the article to share.

Another story, in the middle of all the devastation when arriving at a shelter everyone still removed there shoes and left them at the door. In many cases one of there only remaining possessions.

A very disciplined and respectful culture.

I know the difference.

thousands of people in the shelters whom have lost everything they WORKED for and here in the US they were rioting in the stadium using the floor as a toilet and we gave them 5 thousand each to spent on alcohol, i am confused!

I spent 15 years doing the advertising for Japan Air Lines. There is an inbred belief in personal honor. Once lost, you can never recover it. We thought of them as savages in WWII. I would far more trust a promise made to me by a Japanese person than by anyone else. They would rather die than lose their honor by breaking that promise. We could learn from them. There almost seems to be no greed. If it does happen, that greedy person is NEVER forgiven...by anyone. It's never noisy or loud. It's a silent living death that can't be fixed. They are NOT forgiving.

By the way, there is no welfare system in Japan. They're too proud to accept charity. If you give anything to any one, they MUST do something for you to have earned it.

there is no welfare system in Japan. They dont think they are owed anything. They dont ask "were is my Obama money".

Bob there is hope. I am sitting in a hotel in Pittsburgh with nothing to do. I went down stairs to get a cup of tea and was reflecting on this conversation. I went into Starbucks but there was nobody at the counter. I decided I'd wait patiently, ordered my tea. The girl helping me said we are closed and I've already shut down the register so this ones on us.

She could have came up to the counter and said sorry were closed go away.

i don`t have first hand information but from what i saw and read the coast guard ,red cross and others gorvernment agents gave a thousand percent but the locals whom did the looting had to be the worst low life thing a resident could do to his fellow human being when the chips are down .i compare this to the men of FDNY at the world trade center who would not leave until they made every attemp to rescue there brother firemen in the smoldering ruins without sleep or rest for days on end.

A great culture. They don't look for support from anyone. We talk about stocking up on ammunition just in case. What are we missing?

I did some business with Kobe Steel many years ago. I still remember being in a meeting with 3 representatives from Kobe. Two of the Reps from Kobe started talking to each other in Japanese. Their boss interrupted and told them they will only speak English in the meeting.

I always remember that. Keep it all above board. An unbelievable group of people.

Right out of college I worked for one of the biggest dealers of Japanese Machine Tools in the country as an installation/ training engineer and at the end, technical contributor on developing new equipment. Lots of time working side by side with seasoned factory guys that came to the states for 2 years stints. I was only 21 at the time but they listened to me about design ideas and treated me with so much respect, I always felt an equal, when they could easily have ignored me but they became some of my closest friends...

Years later as Sales Manager for Maruka In Boston we would take over a hundred clients on these Junkets/Factory tours to Japan once a year. From the workers on the factory floor, the hotel and restaurant staff to the President of Mori Seiki, the level of appreciation and sincerity shown to all of us is still embedded in my mind today...Some of my NE customers were WW2 vets and had issues about 1, buying Japanese to begin with and 2 going back there..I can tell you every single one of them came away with a different attitude..
They practice old ways and are so respectful of one another and guests you have to really experience it for yourself.....
The way Japan is acting in the middle of all this is not surprising to me at all.... Yet when you think about what you guys mentioned re Katrina / Fla hurricanes.... the way we acted..... It's kind of embarrassing and a damn shame.
Ray

tunawish wrote:Right out of college I worked for one of the biggest dealers of Japanese Machine Tools in the country as an installation/ training engineer and at the end, technical contributor on developing new equipment. Lots of time working side by side with seasoned factory guys that came to the states for 2 years stints. I was only 21 at the time but they listened to me about design ideas and treated me with so much respect, I always felt an equal, when they could easily have ignored me but they became some of my closest friends...

Years later as Sales Manager for Maruka In Boston we would take over a hundred clients on these Junkets/Factory tours to Japan once a year. From the workers on the factory floor, the hotel and restaurant staff to the President of Mori Seiki, the level of appreciation and sincerity shown to all of us is still embedded in my mind today...Some of my NE customers were WW2 vets and had issues about 1, buying Japanese to begin with and 2 going back there..I can tell you every single one of them came away with a different attitude..
They practice old ways and are so respectful of one another and guests you have to really experience it for yourself.....
The way Japan is acting in the middle of all this is not surprising to me at all.... Yet when you think about what you guys mentioned re Katrina / Fla hurricanes.... the way we acted..... It's kind of embarrassing and a damn shame.
Ray

Ray those guys really are great people aren't they? I can tell you the folks on the Japanese side have not changed, still very honest hardworking folks.

jspiezio wrote: Ray those guys really are great people aren't they? I can tell you the folks on the Japanese side have not changed, still very honest hardworking folks.

John .. I miss working with them, great experience, wish I hadn't lost touch with them when I left industry... In particular Jun from Yasnac

Ray

Pride, Honor and Respect...all too often "just words" here in the US of A.

Very unfortunate.

I appreciate what you guys are saying about the Japanese people and some of their business men. I got burned by my Japanese distributor of snow board clothing back in the 90's and it almost cost me my business. I know a few other manufacturers that dealt with similar problems. These were new school Japanese business men with no honor or respect. I feel for the people of Japan and have them in my prayers but when doing business watch your ass.

RussP

I am afraid that in recent years, we have been setting a poor example for others to follow.

They would rather die than lose their honor by breaking that promise.

Tell that to the men on the ARIZONA........Not much honor in sneak attacking a country your not at war with.

I prefer to think they are well behaved cause we nuked em twice and they got long memories.

If thats the case, we should nuke Detroit, LA, Chicago and Miami to start.

In any case I wish em well.

From a strangely historical point of view, that whole armada attacked Pearl Harbor thinking that their declaration of War had been delivered in Washington
earlier. The screw up was the slowness with which the Japanese Ambassador in Washington's office could decode, type and deliver the multi-paged document, and a miscalculation of the time differences. In the long run, that "sneak attack" fired up America so as to validate Admiral Yamamoto's famous comment on the attack, "I am afraid we have woken a sleeping giant". Sure did.

I dont buy the fact that a couple of guys couldn't synchronize their watches.

They are just sneaky bastards.

ok everybody knows there written history BUT after you sunk all the battleships blew up all the planes on the runway WHY did they strife the women and children and my uncle joseph lico exiting the church they were no theat nor were they arm.34 people laying on the steps of the church riddle with bullets ------------fu-k you

those weren't the same people swept away by the tsunami. i'd say we got even and then some. which is as it should be. in 1980, 35 years after my dad dropped bombs on germany for two years he was driving ..........a mercedes.

well said your right randall hate is no good to hold in, it will eat at you.

The way I see it...it's not the massses of a nation that create War...its a few People at the top who can't get along with others.

Then again I am one of those fools who just believe most people are good...

You're right. I have been in "enemy" countries in the middle east (Syria and Lebanon) and had a great and very friendly time, and been in "friendly" countries, (Turkey and France for example) and had a not-so-friendly time.

you should go to cuba. people ...great. government...not so much.