Japan seems fairly adaptive. Unlike China in the 1800s, they recognized that they had to open up to the West and did so, taking the West at their own game. They

Japan seems fairly adaptive. Unlike China in the 1800s, they recognized that they had to open up to the West and did so, taking the West at their own game. They were pretty successful at that for about 100 years, going from feudalism to a modern colonial power faster than anyone else, until the people in charge decided to bomb Pearl Harbor. Contrast with China, which refused to open up, got invaded several times, and then embraced Communism which destroyed their economy, and they are still lagging behind Japan in many areas (fashion, literature, manufacturing quality, building quality, general living standard, etc.) It's hard to say that living in Beijing/Shanghai is a better quality of life than Japan, and outside those two cities Japan is definitely better. China hasn't thrown off Confucianism, either, just pieces of it, and not really so much in the rural areas. The Confucian solution to conflict by avoidance and/or top-down control is still there, and women still have it pretty rough.