I've heard that Japanese consumers are much more careful with their stuff I've always heard that as well and anecdotally it matches my experience when ord

I've heard that Japanese consumers are much more careful with their stuff I've always heard that as well and anecdotally it matches my experience when ordering previously-owned items from Japan via eBay, etc. One could conjecture a number of reasons. Relative to America, the average Japanese living space is smaller and when one owns less items I imagine one would take care of each item more carefully. Additionally, some items are simply more expensive in Japan: physical media such as music CDs have typically been something like 2x as expensive as in America. I suspect it actually goes deeper than that and there are deeper cultural factors at play, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to expound on them. As an American I've never understood how other Americans can be so rough with their stuff. I'd rather own fewer, nicer things and maintain them. Perhaps it's just my innate cheapness. Of course, if I had free Walkmans like you as a kid -- I bet I would have abused them too. After all, they were free =)