Thank you all for your concern. My uncle managed to call my mother on Sunday. He said they had no water or electricity for about 24 hours. By the time he called, basic service has returned. The local train still isn't running.

My aunt with severe Arthritis was holding or rather hugging a tree for her dear life for about 5 minutes while the ground shook violently. I'm just amazed that neither of them suffered heart attack or stress related injury. I think my mother is going to be calling this weekend to see how things are going.

Yes, the Japanese culture is monolithic. For the trekkie generation, think of Japanese society as the Borgs. There is positive aspect to the monolithic nature but along with it a very dark side too. Think of WW II, think of the kamikaze pilots. They didn't volunteer, they were drafted. Most accepted the fate because it is the Japanese way. There is a concept called shibui. it's not easy for me to translate. One meaning is willingness to tolerate great pain physical and emotional. And to accept it shows ones self discipline. Self discipline is central in Japanese culture. I remember in elementary school, we were doing caligraphy with sumi brush. On that day, parents were invited to their children's class. My mother was back there along with all the other mothers. When my teacher came by she made some praises. I was so proud I turned to show it to my mother. When I got home I was scolded. Said she was embarrassed with my behavior. Other kids didn't turn around to show the brush stroke. OOPS!! What I did was considered arrogance.

The Japanese became so monolithic is that we are isolated to begin with. Habitable land area of Japan is less than 10% of the total land area and people had to live in close proximity. And only way the society survived was to become monolithic without people doing their own thing.

As far as looting. You do not want to commit crime in Japan. Arrest rate is well over 90% conviction rate is almost 100%. You WILL do time in Japan. But the biggest factor stopping the looting is family honor. You could do stupid things but oh my if you commit a crime, your family will disown you completely. Bringing shame to family is not tolerated.