In the semirural area near Tokyo where I and some others spend weekends, we have just suffered our first break-ins. Nothing serious. Someone, probably delinquent kids, going through unlocked parked cars looking for loose items. Far more interesting is why we have been able to leave our houses and cars vulnerable and unlocked for so long.

To date, no one has seriously tried to explain the extraordinary honesty of the Japanese -- why lost wallets are returned intact, change given meticulously, shoplifting abjured. Clearly, religion cannot be a serious factor; Japan does not have one. Nor do the standard theories about a superior Oriental culture make much sense; you won't find the same kind of honesty in Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea or China.

But as with so many other aspects of Japan -- the work ethic, tribalistic groupism, manufacturing craftsmanship, etc. -- you once could find equivalents in Western societies derived from northern European culture. Australia's Gold Coast today may look like an armed fortress, with double locks on most doors and metal-barred windows. But in my youth we used to leave the milk money on the pavement. Doors were left unlocked. You did not have to check your change. England used to be much the same.