High human capital, perhaps? I would hazard the educational/ cultural level of a japanese high school grad about equals that of an American state univ grad (I is one, so I can criticize). Nobody would be surprised SF State got hit by an earthquake and the students didn't loot. (The low educational and cultural level of the US is embarassing....)
I'm not sure why you'd be downvoted for this observation. My week in Japan showed me that fast food employees had a higher level of competence and professionalism than at least a third of the people who I've encountered in my career.
(To say nothing of their US foodservice counterparts. I had an easier time special-ordering a cheeseburger in Kyoto than I would down the street from my home. And wtf, their standards for food are ridiculous. McDonald's, which I loathe, was fucking delicious there.)
Culture is probably both the most difficult and the most important idea in social theory. I think of it as the amount of knowledge and habit you have internalized from the outside world; I internalized saying please and thank you, it is now part of "me." (Not so with elbows on the table). I also internalized punctuality, more or less. I have internalized a lot of books and what one more conventionally thinks of as "culture" (classical music, Russian novels, anything the French make).
One might internalize a predisposition to smooth over conflict, or one might internalize exactly the opposite and learn to start fights at the slightest hint of provocation; if you live in a violent society, the latter serves you well and might be necessary for basic survival, but if you are trying to make a career in an office the former is usually better.
There are some wonders with empire wide effects that may be a cheaper way to improve culture. Look into those. One may argue RL Japan has a lot of those: the Shinto shrines, the temples, the castles.
I didn't down vote you, but I do disagree (disagree != downvote).
I live in a small town called Vero Beach, FL. Vero Beach is split in to two parts by the Intercoastal Waterway (locally known as the Indian River). The mainland portion of the city is lower than average in many regards. Most relevant to the situation at hand, we have a lower than average median-income, and the vast majority of our college grads move on to other cities. Our primary local industries are service and hospitality. If you were to come here from out of town, you would characterize many of the mainland residents as "rednecks". You see plenty of pick-up trucks sporting all manner of window decals. Of course, we also have a very large immigrant population due to the local citrus industry, so you also have lots of people walking the streets in their white t-shirts, dirty jeans, and large hats. About a 3.5 mile drive puts you in the heart of Gifford, FL; a sister city to Vero Beach, but could not be more different. Gifford's population is 57.43% black according to the 2000 census. Contrast this to 92.73% white in Vero Beach. By many outward appearances, this area is stuck in the early 1900s. Stereotypes abound in Vero Beach.
Interestingly, if you cross the bridge to the barrier island, you'll find another divide; the income divide. The barrier island has its own zip code (32963), which just happens to have the highest concentration of retired CEOs in the nation. When I did local IT consulting (computer repair), I had the opportunity to do work for the former CEO of Warner Lambert, the current CEO of Textron, and a retired board member for Chevron, among others. You can't throw a stone without hitting a former or acting CEO in 32963. There is ample opportunity for poorer residents across the river to make off with lots of expensive goods from homes just a few miles away during a catastrophe. Add to that the fact that pretty much all of the residents on the beach side aren't here during the summer, so their homes are unattended, guarded by only a small local police force that is vastly outnumbered and very, very busy during emergencies.
In 2004, we were struck with back-to-back hurricanes (within three weeks). Many people lost their homes to flooding and water intrusion (the roof failed). There was only passing major media coverage, because the storm came ashore in a relatively low-population area, and there weren't a lot of houses leveled, so it didn't make good news. I can assure you, a house does not have to be leveled to the ground in order to be uninhabitable. Once you've had 18" of river water in your house, you don't want to sleep there. Many went weeks without power, and gas (petrol) was unavailable for days, so while most families had supplies, there were plenty of people who couldn't last 10 days without electricity, gasoline, and food.
Through all of this, there was no mention of looting or increases in crime in Vero Beach. Quite the contrary. We had community run food banks and shelters that stayed open long after the worst had passed. Local landscape companies drove neighborhoods picking up debris without worrying about who will pay the bill, and sometimes it seemed like the whole town was actually grateful for what had happened. I've never felt a greater sense of community.
My point is that you don't need higher education in order to foster a culture that cares about people. To suggest otherwise is a dangerous cultural bias that infers elitism of the worst kind. Individuals derive their sense of attachment to their community in a variety of ways that often are not tied to any level of education or income.
So please, don't bother looking down your nose at us poor, uneducated, rednecks. We're not the ones in need of "some good learnin'" on the subject of community.
EDIT: Let me be more specific by separating concerns.
* I do agree that the overall response to the catastrophe in Japan is extremely honorable and is something we should strive for here in the US.
* I do agree that we lag behind in education and should strive to improve that.
* I strongly disagree that you should establish bias by correlating education, "lack of culture", and the predisposition to commit a crime.
* I strongly disagree that higher-education is the motivating factor behind the lack of looting in Japan.
* I strongly disagree that a lack of looting at a university has anything to do with their level of education, but more to do with the reasons they're there to become educated to begin with.
Probably too late to see this, but I (and my teachers) think of "culture" as basically "training". So if you can get a lot of great character training without ever being exposed to, say, Mozart, you would still be in my "high human capital" bin. In the US, I think usually character and education are correlated, mainly because being of high character opens up educational avenues for you (for which it is economical rational to pursue), while being a punk-ass closes off these doors.
There are lots of exceptions, of course; rural areas might be a case (I am rather fond of so called rednecks myself).
Also, I said that high school grads probably had the training of a mediocre college grad in the US -- I didnt say anything about high years of education in Japan being the cause of good behavior.
Let me expand: The fact that we find it surprising that the Japanese don't loot says a good deal more about our own low standards for what to expect from an average citizen, given our wealth and power, than it does about the Japanese. And it doesn't put us in a good light either.
Swedish citizen here and I can't really imagine any looting happening should something like this happen up here. I was not the least bit surprised that it happened in Haiti, seeing as how poor people already were there. Same thing with New Orleans.
