Obeika
One last post on this, hopefully.

My family is Japanese. Most, almost all of my friends are Japanese. You are correct, they realized Japan has problems. I don't need to point these things out to them, although sometimes I am guilty of making quick comments that could be considered insulting (even then, family and friends can't disagree with me, they might dislike what I have said, but it is an honest opinion shared by most). I almost have sympathy for my family, because they worry about their future, the economy, their grandkids and that is all they do. I doubt they will ever do anything about it. It is almost as if they feel there is no solution to the problems.
Oh, but that is another beauty to Japanese life. Japanese life is easy. I have friends who have worked a company for 5 years, and basically done nothing. Taxes are low, it is easy to save, everything is convenient. So it is not difficult to be content, and I think most people are. But deep down inside, they worry. The other thing I have noticed is people have become content because some things are the norm. Take the excessive noise, or the concrete, people don't even notice it. It is the norm, they cant remember what it was like before everything was plastered with concrete and steel. Or if they do, they try to ignore it.

I feel there are solutions. Maybe it is a different perspective. What I see wrong with Japan can be fixed, over time. Not gonna happen overnight. But it won't get fixed, because no one ever disrupts the harmony.
Foreigners have unique problems (like discriminations ect). As others have said this happens anywhere, and generally here it only makes one uncomfortable. People don't get threatened or beat up because they are not Japanese (except in schools). I do agree with the statement if you don't like it, then leave. If you are here because of your family or simply to make money, then sacrifice and deal with it.
So another difference of opinion, u feel Japan can fix itself. I think of it as the same way I see global warming - basically too late, and at the rate other things get fixed, it just isn't going to happen.

Kilt.