Diligence, Courteous, Honest & Cooperative, not.

[Taro Toporific]

Diligence, Courteous, Honest and Cooperative: not us Japanese

In the most recent Asahi Shimbun survey, conducted in 2002, respondents were asked for the first time to select adjectives that describe the Japanese character. Characteristics considered by many Japanese to be traditional national traits that have fostered modernization since the Meiji Era (1868-1912) did not score highly.

Only 50 percent of respondents selected ``diligence,'' for example, as a term that aptly describes the Japanese today, and most respondents said the adjectives ``courteous,'' ``honest'' and ``cooperative'' do not apply

[cstaylor]

Wait... if Japanese are dishonest, then aren't the answers to this survey suspect?

[Jack]

15% of Japanese think the government is trustworth. This aught to be the highest percentage in the word, me thinks.

[Taro Toporific]

Wait... if Japanese are dishonest, then aren't the answers to this survey suspect?

Naaaah. The study also reported that 85% of the Japanese who responded described themselves as "Warmhearted."

I read this valid stat in front of the handicapped seats on the subway filled with seated able-bodied Japanese as an obaaachan in her 90s stood in front of them.

[cstaylor]

I read this valid stat in front of the handicapped seats on the subway filled with seated able-bodied Japanese as an obaaachan in her 90s stood in front of them.

Must have been Tokyo... I've seen plenty of warmhearted young people giving their regular seats to the elderly on the trains in Yokohama