"Michael Cash" <mikecash@sunfield.ne.jp>, haber iletisinde sunlari
yazdi:an8ksvcgul9gr7v0p1bunr5uqva7mqfkgl@4ax.com...
>...
> No, it would very likely have been the same thing.
>
> Here's a post I made last January: http://tinyurl.com/x3hu
>
> ....and here is the part of the story I refrained from telling at the
> time, which is *why* I was calling 110:
>
> If I recall correctly, the time was about 2 a.m. I was driving down
> Yamate-dori in Tokyo. The traffic was light so I was moving along
> smoothly. I happened to notice a scooter parked on the sidewalk with
> its taillight lit. Next to the scooter, someone was lying on the
> sidewalk and doing a wonderful impersonation of a corpse. It was
> Christmas Eve.
>
> Even though it was 2 o'clock in the morning, there was some small
> amount of pedestrian traffic along the road. I knew from past
> experience, though, that Japanese have a remarkable ability to totally
> ignore anyone who might need help. So I pulled over, stopped my truck,
> blocking half the road in the process, and got out to see what was
> wrong.
>
> It wasn't immediately clear if the guy was even still alive or not. No
> amount of shaking him or calling to him produced any reaction at all.
> There were no visible injuries, but that doesn't mean anything. From
> the time I first spotted him until I reached him, I observed several
> Japanese just walk right the fuck on by the guy. He was lying in the
> sidewalk, so there's no way they didn't notice. I called the cops so
> they could at least get him off the streets so he wouldn't die of
> exposure.
>
>
> Then there was a time earlier this year, on a little country road at
> about 5 in the morning. An old man out walking his dog was lying
> halfway in the street and trying to get up. This was at a place where
> a small hill and a sharp double curve limit visibility sharply. I
> watched several cars in front of me quickly swerve to avoid the man
> who had suddenly become visible to them. They swerved....and kept
> right the fuck on going. Yes, it was Mr. Gaigin who dropped what he
> was doing and went to help the guy. He appeared to have had a stroke
> or something in the past, was totally unable to speak in anything
> other than grunts (he understood just fine, though), had no fucking
> business being out anywhere at any time of the day without somebody
> nearby to watch him, and had stumbled and whacked his forehead
> full-force on the curb.
>
> I have at least three more personal experiences like this, two of them
> in broad daylight and one involving a child. Situations where multiple
> Japanese observed a fellow Japanese in serious need of help....and
> where each and every last one of them chose to ignore it. And the bad
> ol' boogeyman gaigin was the only one who stopped to help.
>
> If I'm a racist toward the Japanese, maybe it's because they've made
> me one.

Another incident for the record: An American friend of mine had to ride
subway from Shinsaibashi to Namba with her forearm sticking out of door
because the door closed on her arm and nobody helped her. The train was full
too. She was still terrified when she told this to us about two days later



People who would intervene on a slight pause of a foreigner before a ticket
machine or an ATM do not stop and help a dying person or help a lady in
danger. I wonder why. I really wonder why.



What do you think? Are they simply assholes or is there a cultural
explanation to this that I'm missing.