My experience of visiting there very much agrees with yours. I particularly remember walking down a dark ally in Kyoto one night, half way down the ally there's

My experience of visiting there very much agrees with yours. I particularly remember walking down a dark ally in Kyoto one night, half way down the ally there's this brightly lit vending machine shining like a beacon, in perfect condition, not vandalised, not kicked in, not damaged in any way. I saw many similar examples of this respect for property throughout my time there. This left an impression on me because in my country, a beacon-like vending machine in the middle of a dark ally within a large city would last about one night. There's certainly pros and cons to the Japanese culture, as with any culture I suppose. The attitude that displays its self in the preservation of the the vending machine is one of the pros. But along with it seems to comes an immensely strong pressure to conform and sacrifice. This is the country that produced the Kamikaze[1] and took ritual suicide almost to the level of an art form. 1. I visited the Chiran Peace Museum (http://wgordon.web.wesleyan.edu/kamikaze/museums/chiran/index.htm http://wgordon.web.wesleyan.edu/kamikaze/museums/chiran/inde...) while I was in Japan, I found it fascinating to learn of the history of the Kamikaze and see all the paraphernalia on show. I had only ever seen the classic footage of the Kamikaze flying into US ships. I did not know that they also had defensive Kamikaze who would protect Japanese cities by flying into enemy bombers and also small Kamikaze speed boats.