Squareboy
If you think that Japan is the most technologically advanced country in the world, you've obviously never been here.

hua he
What do kanji have anything to do with being a Western country? Greece is a Western country and uses Greek characters...

Little history lesson boys and girls. Why is it "Western"? Because the world was and still is dominated by cultures that are located in the arbitrarily called "Western" hemisphere. Even though this denomination is totally arbitrary, Japan is still not in this historically recognized hemisphere of the world and thus will NEVER be a "Western" country in that sense of the word.

For those of you who think that being "western" is more a state of mind than a geographical location, let me put this to you. What are Japanese really enamoured of: the western way of life or the IDEA of the western way of life? I stipulate that they love the IDEA, not the fact, just as most of you here (and me until living in Japan) are taken with the idea of Japan (to all of you different and unique). Again, Japan fails to become a Western country.

From where I stand, Japan may be westernized, but it will NEVER ever be a "Western" country and we should be happy about it.