I was watching this depressing TV documentary called "Muen Shakai (Disconnected society)". Basically it features how disconnected and isolated the Japanese are in modern day. It is a sickening reality we tend to forget. Strong family structure and mutual assistance between family members used to be the virtue of Japan. What has this country become of? It is just a bunch of free particles packed in this tiny islands?
I tell you American people are much more family oriented and family ties are much stronger. Family members and relatives get together almost every weekend and keep very close interactions. In contrast, Japan is such a sickening country. Yeah, they do get together, but they do that out of formalism like New Year and someone's wedding and shit. I think Japanese are in some sense more individualistic than Americans. Many men here put higher importance on job than on family. In the US, the men who think that job is more important than family can never marry, much less make a family, no matter how rich they are. If you are one of them, Americans would never think you are diligent or devoting, which is how Japanese would generally view those as, but Americans instead think you are just an anti-social wacko. Japanese may call Amricans lazy, but how come the lazy are much sperior to hard workers in terms of economy, science, politics, you name it.
What I hate about Japan is that people in this country just imitate bare surface of Western culture, without learning its core value. So this country has turned into such a grotesque place. They never try to learn what is the foundation of American culture and traditions, which is based on family. I feel sick when Japanese try to celebrate Halloween and Christmas. They have no clue of what they are all about. Japanese care way too much about "form" or "wrapping", forgetting that the contents inside are already rotten and stinky.
I kind of get a feeling that Japan is structured as a packaged system. What I mean by that is that in order to live here you have to stay inside the system and brainlessly follow the formulae that the system prescribes otherwise you have no choice but starving to death. Going to a good school, being hired by a big company as a new grad, and kissing your boss's ass until you retire. It is all packaged life automatically assigned when born in this country. For those who don't desired to live like a computer program, there is nowhere in this country to live. This is why many people in this country cannot "think and act outside of box".
It is not to say that American way is all better, but there is clearly an ice-cold cruelty that this society creates.