I should probably double-check this with a Japanese first, but I think the words 「強盗」 and 「略奪」 don't mean "looting" in the sense of people snatching whatever they can from stores after a disaster. My (possibly incorrect) understanding is that 「強盗」 is forcible robbery, and 「略奪」 is the kind of looting an army or band of pirates would pull off during a raid.
Of course, words take on different (and sometimes surprising) meanings in different contexts, and I'm not a native speaker.
Yeah, and EDICT is pretty weak Japanese dictionary, IMHO. One-word translations lead to misunderstandings. Having gone to school in Japan, I found EDICT useless whereas a random paper dictionary or denshi-jisho would actually help me find the right word.
So anyway, I would not use EDICT as my sole source for "there is no word" or "the correct word is..." If I cared, I would probably read through the Japanese newspaper coverage until I found a word that seemed relevant in both dictionary definition and actual context. If there is no word for the phenomenon or it never happened, then you wouldn't be able to prove anything... but if there is a word and it did occur, then you would have something a little more solid than "I googled for Japanese dictionary and found some words in them."
my wife is a native (from tokyo), who has only been in the states for a few years. when i asked her about this she said she'd read the article and was surprised that we thought this way. that is to say, that we assumed that because the japanese didn't have a word for something, they didn't loot. she said they don't loot because they have respect for each other.
of course i immediately asked her what the word for looting is. she said, "ryakudatsu - when the crisis happens and people don't have stuff so they go to the store and steal."
she said there is another word sometimes said casually as well "dorobou - thieving", but it's generally not used except when someone is breaking into other people's homes.
For maximum metareferentiality, read the comments - patio11's joke that Japanese has no word for over-preparation is cited as a similar linguistic confusion (I defended Patrick's honor, of course).
It doesn't matter at all whether a language has a word for describing something. Any human language can describe all concepts that other human languages can describe.
Word or no Word, its part of the culture, atleast from my small sliver from way over here in the US.
Remember the scenes from 'Grave of the Fireflies'? During the fire-bombings, the boy, Sieta, would run and loot the homes of fleeing civilians. Powerful imagery indeed, but he was looting.
[+] [-] angus77|15 years ago|reply
Of course, words take on different (and sometimes surprising) meanings in different contexts, and I'm not a native speaker.
[+] [-] jrockway|15 years ago|reply
So anyway, I would not use EDICT as my sole source for "there is no word" or "the correct word is..." If I cared, I would probably read through the Japanese newspaper coverage until I found a word that seemed relevant in both dictionary definition and actual context. If there is no word for the phenomenon or it never happened, then you wouldn't be able to prove anything... but if there is a word and it did occur, then you would have something a little more solid than "I googled for Japanese dictionary and found some words in them."
[+] [-] Paulomus|15 years ago|reply
about the increase of looting in Japan following the earthquake uses 略奪 to refer both to armed robberies and taking things from unattended stores.
[+] [-] kamechan|15 years ago|reply
of course i immediately asked her what the word for looting is. she said, "ryakudatsu - when the crisis happens and people don't have stuff so they go to the store and steal."
she said there is another word sometimes said casually as well "dorobou - thieving", but it's generally not used except when someone is breaking into other people's homes.
[+] [-] Vivtek|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] intellectronica|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] frisco|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bpd1069|15 years ago|reply
Remember the scenes from 'Grave of the Fireflies'? During the fire-bombings, the boy, Sieta, would run and loot the homes of fleeing civilians. Powerful imagery indeed, but he was looting.
[+] [-] rheide|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] BoppreH|15 years ago|reply