Why is there no looting in Japan?

A lawless atmosphere often follows natural disasters. How has Japan managed to maintain order in the aftermath of last week's earthquake and tsunami?

Japanese residents queue up in an orderly fashion outside a 7 eleven.
(Image credit: Corbis)

The chaos and theft that have followed many earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis have been noticeably absent in the wake of Japan's 8.9-magnitude quake. Instead, people have formed long, orderly lines outside grocery stores, where employees try to fairly distribute limited supplies of food and water. "Looting simply does not take place in Japan," says Gregory Pflugfelder, an expert in Japanese culture at Columbia University, as quoted by CNN. "I'm not even sure if there's a word for it that is as clear in its implications as when we hear 'looting.'" How has Japan managed to avoid this common after-effect of disaster? (Watch an Al Jazeera report about the wreckage)

Discipline, discipline, discipline: "The Japanese are now reaping the fruits of having been taught, and drilled in, discipline and resilience since childhood," says Federico D. Pasqual Jr. at The Philippine Star. In grade school, lunch is free, but often "spartan," and kids learn to expect and deal with lean times. This unfathomable calamity is one of those times, and "the instilling of that value or attitude seems to be paying off."

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