The culture of Japan tends to be outer-directed. Thus, taking care of other people becomes much more central to its value system. This is one reason why Japanese companies tend to look out for the welfare of their employees in such an effective fashion. The impact of this at the national level can be seen from the Japanese people’s response to previous crises, including the earthquake in Kobe in 1995. The remarkable resilience of the Japanese was clearly in evidence during those times, along with countless acts of heroism by ordinary citizens — people not empowered or trained to do great things. We are seeing this in the horrible aftermath of the current earthquake and tsunami.