It's nonsense, for Japan certainly, if not also wrt the English (which I don't know enough about to comment on, but I'm skeptical). When Japanese people are pu

It's nonsense, for Japan certainly, if not also wrt the English (which I don't know enough about to comment on, but I'm skeptical). When Japanese people are purchasing foreign products at least, they are responding to the same pressures and cultural biases that guide their purchase of Japanese products and services. In my experience this is stuff like age and legacy of the company, how much other Japanese people like and trust the brand, and all the other arbitrary things that shape the ebb and flow of product and service popularity in a given culture. This is not to say that there aren't unique aspects to how Japanese people choose products which maybe overlap with the English, but in and of itself the markers of status in Japan are distinct from those in the U.S. (for example), so it doesn't seem likely that Japanese people somehow have some sophisticated notion of not just how to find products that have high status but high status according to U.S. consumers. It's silly simply taken at face value. I do think the question of whether the English and Japanese share similarities because they are island nations with a royal family (and more) is interesting, though. EDIT: I should be clear that I'm responding to the entire section of the piece, not just what you highlighted: It's something like: if you want to know what's good about what your country makes look at what the Japanese and British import. (I can't find the actual quote). And his reasoning is something like: Japanese and British cultures are so hierarchical and stratified, in such long-lasting and subtle ways, that they've become incredibly good at discerning status from tiny signals. Also worth stating that "what's good" != high-status, so the whole thing seems confused to me.