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"Tamura describes the concept of 'hito no me'; the ‘societal eye’. Even without a police presence, no theft will occur while there is hito no me. But left in a
by BlameKaneda 7y ago
"Tamura describes the concept of 'hito no me'; the ‘societal eye’. Even without a police presence, no theft will occur while there is hito no me. But left in a place where there is no one watching, thefts do occur."
"Likewise, in Shintoism everything, from rocks to trees, possesses a spirit. While organised Shintoism is a minority practice in Japan, omniscient objects permeate the culture....if you are always being watched and your natural disposition is to think of others first, it is natural that you would be bothered to hand in the lost item."
The concept of "standing out" is a bit foreign in collectivist cultures like Japan, and getting blamed/shunned/etc for stealing would be mentally taxing.
- LeoTinnitus 7y agoThat is how I analyzed it for the most part since there was such a wide variance between countries. Eastern Europe really stood out to me and I believe that may have to do with a generation of people that were used to the surveillance state of post-communist society. In the US, the social impact generally means little, however the economic and time one matters a lot (via jail or fines). Post-communist states might be still conditioned to live in a culture where people are used to corrupt police that ENSURING you have nothing damning is far better than taking a risk and dealing with getting out of that.