This is a stoically resilient approach to events, situations, and the world around us. This stoicism was particularly revealed in the manner with which the Japanese picked themselves up after WWII--i.e. when their cities had been totally burned out-- and then rebuilt their civilization. In short, within three to four decades the Japanese were able to rebuild their nation state, and Japan had become the second biggest economy in the world. Similarly, after the 1995 Kobe earthquake--the most destructive quake since WII--the entire Kobe region was put back together in an amazingly short period of time.
EXAMPLE OF THE GREAT HANSHIN EARTHQUAKE 1995
http://www.vibrationdata.com/earthquakes/kobe.htm
Over 5100 deaths occurred--mainly in the Kobe area. That is many more deaths than the total of the combined number of victims killed in the 4 major terror attacks and hijackings in the U.S.A. on September 11, 2001.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyKZ-IKeG5k&feature=related
In that same summer of 1995, I passed through the Kobe and Hanshin region several times by bullet train. I could only hear of memories of the quake--visually much of the mess had been cleaned up Many Japanese had--on the surface--simply moved on: "What else could one do?" "It couldn't be helped." (Shoganai) Meanwhile, no major political officials, nor military officers, fire marshals nor high-ranking city officials (nor regional planners) were arrested for negligence in construction and design.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8UlUzKxP-0
One should recognize the fact that "[m]ost of the deaths and injuries occurred when older wood-frame houses with heavy clay tile roofs collapsed. Note that homes and buildings are designed to be very strong in the vertical direction because they must support their own static weight. On the other hand, buildings can be very susceptible to horizontal ground motion. Furthermore, many of the structures in Kobe built since 1981 had been designed to strict seismic codes. Most of these buildings withstood the earthquake. In particular, newly built ductile-frame high rise buildings were generally undamaged." http://www.vibrationdata.com/earthquakes/kobe.htm
Sadly and "[u]nfortunately, many of the buildings in Kobe had been built before the development of strict seismic codes. The collapse of buildings was followed by the ignition of over 300 fires within minutes of the earthquake. The fires were caused by ruptured gas lines. Response to the fires was hindered by the failure of the water supply system and the disruption of the traffic system." In summary, in many cases, it was the many poorer residents of Kobe who were most physically affected by the quake and subsequent fires. This was particularly upsetting because in many cases, the Japanese fire departments did not have enough (sufficient) ready-access to basic quantities of water to put these fires out in any timely manner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VTih55hHkE&feature=related
In short, even though the city of Kobe had had decades to prepare for a large quake and the country had had adequate sums of capital to improve infrastructure, i.e. citywide in Kobe, little had been done to improve on housing and building conditions--which had been built in the period of the early Japanese post-War boom of the 1950s through 1970s. Japanese seismology professor Tsuneo Katayama wrote shortly thereafter, --While our country was having a bubbling economy, we Japanese forgot to pay due attention to mother nature."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF3iJBLzjRs&feature=related
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