Quote:
Originally Posted by Nyororin
For example, if you litter - someone is going to have to clean that up. If you decide to do something self centered, someone - another person just like you - is going to suffer because of it. The effect is multiplied the closer you get to yourself (same neighborhood, same workplace, same school, same circle of friends, etc etc) but it still exists even when the other people have no connection to you other than simply being people.
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From what I've seen in person and read about, by-stander intervention in Japan is pretty low because of this, particularly in scenarios where no one is in immediate danger or anything. It's not that they don't want to help, or that they don't care, or that they particularly need the consensus of the other by-standers to intervene (and western people do this just as much. People tend to look at the victim and then look at everyone else to see what they're doing before they wade in.), it's more that they don't want to
embarrass the person who needs help.
Sounds weird, but I think that the social nature of Japanese culture means that one-sided social 'transactions' are pretty rare compared to other more individualistic cultures. It's not that Japanese people are ~less~ altruistic (as some people would have you believe) it's just that they're used to things being two-way, so getting yourself into trouble and causing another person to go out of their way to help you is a) highly embarrassing for adults; that's what kids do and b) is a difficult situation in which you can give back to your helper from. After all, it's probably a stranger you'll never see again.