i think undeniably, the orderliness that they display in face of such catastrophe deserves praise. No looting, no rioting (actually from what i heard, there are looting, just not a wide-spread).
second, is the sumari-attitude of the 50 - 75 Tokyo electric engineers volunteering to lay their lives on the line to save the striken nuclear plant.
I cannot help but think,if it happens to Singapore, for sure, there will be looting or at least, the army will be in tanks roaming the streets - curfew probably will be implemented.
As for getting volunteers (whether they are volunteered or forced - I not sure) to do similar 90%-sure die if not cancer risk, think no one in Singapore will be prepared to do that.
Thats the 2 very significant things i noticed from this disaster with the Japanese.
Why are they like this - alot to do with the education and society.
Actually the Japanese government have been covering alot things...they are already stretched to the limit by the earthquake, and to tell the truth about the nuclear disaster will create worldwide panic which will overwhelm their resources.
Even the US government was criticized about the manner they manage Hurricane Katherine back then. Especially more for Asia mentality, to try to cover until lao sai...China, Japan, Korea, even down to Singapore.
Japan - specially have a history of doing so, up till today, they refuse to admit Nanjing massacre, they refuse to acknowledge comfort women, they covered up the cause of World War 2 from their citizens, so its not surprising that whatever reported so far, is only a certain % of the truth.