Japan and stereotypes

There was a time when you would mention the word: “Japan”, and a whole series of unpleasant stereotypes would come to mind.
Unpleasant and uncompromising imperialist warmongers in the 1930s and 40s. Manufacturers of cheap junk (particularly transistor radios and the like) in the 1950s and 60s. Check out Allan Sherman’s revised version of the “12 Days of Christmas” if you want more on that.
These days though the image has changed somewhat. They appear to have come of age. They are seen as manufacturers of quality goods (even if the problems with Toyota affected that reputation somewhat). And their company structures offer a much more reasoned relationship between management and employee than you find in many other countries.
All the more interesting in its way then, is the response to this week’s earthquake tragedy and the resultant problems with the Fukushima nuclear plant.
Thankfully the negative stereotypes that existed are now a thing of the past. We will all happily respond positively to the needs of the people affected by the tragedy, and also support the efforts being made to contain the problems at Fukushima.
One is prone to wonder though, in a world where we often allow stereotypes to get ahead of actualities, whether we would react so positively to tragedies faced by people in less favourably viewed nations. People eventually are people, not stereotypes.