Japanese culture has a much smaller 'power distance' than US culture, we pay our CEOs so much because our individualistic culture rewards the superstar unlike a

Japanese culture has a much smaller 'power distance' than US culture, we pay our CEOs so much because our individualistic culture rewards the superstar unlike almost any other nation in the world. You can debate over whether this is good or bad (it's probably bad when taken to this extreme), but it is an essential part of The American Dream. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstede%27s_cultural_dimensions_theory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstede%27s_cultural_dimension... for more info on Power Distance and other variables that can broadly define a society.