> Anyways, the point I wanted to make is the Article's comment about the clothes young people wear - it is quite deceptive to use such a metric. I agree with t

> Anyways, the point I wanted to make is the Article's comment about the clothes young people wear - it is quite deceptive to use such a metric. I agree with that. Also with unemployment: in Japan, unemployment benefits and welfare in general isn't as nearly as extensive as in the US (let alone Western Europe), women drop out of the workforce earlier, etc, so it's not appropriate to compare the unemployment rate in isolation. > PS: The goal of my post is not for Japan bashing but trying to give an unromanticized balanced view Well, you have to admit that "Japanese health care is a joke" does sound like bashing. ;-)