Shoplifting in Japan - what happened to Japanese honour?

[chrix]

well culture of shame, as you may know, was coined by an American anthropologist and mainly relates to the behaviour exhibited by the Japanese people after WWII, that they didn't feel so much guilt (like the Germans, for instance), but more like a sense of shame for having waged such a huge war and then have lost it.

On a different note, sexual behaviour of Japanese also seems to work according to this principle, as long as it's not known publicly, lot of things can happen.

Well, as far as handing in the cash goes, this is more a reflection of following the rules, I think. You can get this in other parts of the world too. And this thread wasn't about the Japanese suddenly starting to shop-lift in large numbers, but just some Japanese seem to be doing it more than before.