Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM
I think it depends on where you are. The bigger the metropolis the lower bystander intervention is anywhere in the world. I was in the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, and I was happily surprised to see moments after the earthquake people were going door to door asking if everyone was OK.
I am not sure what you mean by "one-sided" transactions.
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That's what I meant when I said that by-stander intervention is lower
particularly when no one is in immediate danger. The Hanshin Earthquake was exceptional. I've fallen off a bike, my friend got hit by a car and people were immediately there to help; I'm talking more about scenarios where it would be ~nice~ to help, but not essential. Old lady can't reach the top supermarket shelf etc.
A one-sided transaction is where party A does something for party B without any perception on either side that party B should then therefore do something for party A. The best way I can describe it is if for example, my friends and I are going to the theatre. Tickets bought Dutch. I live half-way between my friends' house and the theatre so I say to them that for practical reasons (it's a long drive maybe) they can stop at my house and I'll make a casual dinner before we go to the theatre. That dinner is a one-sided transaction. It's not a gift, its an effort made on my part that is completely neutral, to make things more convenient for everyone. That, I know from experience, would not work as easily in Japan. Because the person who was offered the dinner would perceive it as that a) this sort of dinner-giving is normally a mutual exchange over time but b) I was refusing to let them make it mutual so C) I was putting them down/myself up.
British people would be utterly unfazed about this. We might SAY 'oh i'll cook you dinner next time' to be polite, but there's no expectation it'll ever happen and zero backlash if it doesn't. There's also little to no substantial gain if it does. I'm not saying this never happens in Japan, or that this is true across all scenarios, i just think it happens much less often, and much less overtly than in the west.