The tl'dr is it's cultural. The Japanese are more willing to live in smaller spaces and are more community-minded like just having the common decency not to thr

The tl'dr is it's cultural. The Japanese are more willing to live in smaller spaces and are more community-minded like just having the common decency not to throw trash on the street. In the US, for many people "freedom" is a euphemism for "selfishness" wrapped up as some kind of virtue. Just look at the reaction to a significant portion of the US population to the minor inconvenience of having a jab or wearing a mask. That all being said, I really have a hard time with the Japanophile mindset that seems so popular in the West. It's always seemed like a combination of being a middle-class malaffected discontent who doesn't feel "special" and an idealized version of Japan. Personally, I have two big issues with Japanese culture: 1. Unlike Germany, Japan never faced up to its WW2 legacy. WW2 is barely taught in the Japanese education system and certainly nothing about, say, the Rape of Nanking; and 2. There a strong undercurrent of misogyny that has jus tnever sat right with me.