5/25/2006

History repeats itself…

S Korean student rescues woman from JR tracks at site of 2001 accident
Crisscross News – Thursday, May 25, 2006 at 06:50 EDT
TOKYO — A South Korean student has rescued a Japanese woman who had fallen onto the tracks of Tokyo’s JR Shin-Okubo Station, the same place where his compatriot was killed in 2001 while attempting to rescue a drunken stranger from the tracks, sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday…..
…”I did what any Korean would do in the given situation,” the Yonhap News Agency quoted Shin as saying. The report said some 20 bystanders failed to provide assistance…more…

Consider the elements that make this a “typically Japanese” story in everyday Tokyo life:

• Drunk out of their mind Japanese staggering around in public
• People aimless standing around an injured person not offering first aid
• Japanese calmly waiting for authorities to handle the matter
• Clueless Japanese men who cannot think to help a young woman
• Total lack of “Charity” in the personal sense
• And most of all, Japanese lack the concept of individual action or bravery

Saaaa, this story is so typically Japanese: passive ‘n’ pavid. I have been arrested for giving first aid at a Tokyo traffic accident—the Japanese cops figured only a person who caused an accident would be giving first aid. II’ve watched an epileptic seizure in the station nearest to a NURSING conference at Yokohama Convention Center and I was the only person to offer help in a crowd of hundreds of nurses and medical professors. Oddly, when I started barking out orders to the nurses walking past, they obeyed instantly. Sheesh.

Anyway, here’s a photo of the Korean hero who once again put the Japanese in their place.

Photo via Mulboyne