I think a better explanation is that buildings have traditionally been seen as temporary in Japan because of earthquakes and wood construction. There is actual

I think a better explanation is that buildings have traditionally been seen as temporary in Japan because of earthquakes and wood construction. There is actually a lot of inefficiency, like people standing there waving batons to warn about construction sites. In other countries you'd have signs. But it's debatable if that is plain inefficiency - maybe it gives people with no other abilities something to do, which can be positive. No argument about attention to detail and especially customer service - it feels like the Japanese wouldn't even know how to do bad customer service or a bad product. (You can find examples of both if you go looking, though.)