True. I have only found one Japanese person that was able to speak their true feelings to me and tell me what they were actually thinking about any given topic. One, out of the many that I know, and that isn't my husband.

Although I don't have a bunch of links to refer to or any article or statistics to refer to, I have made personal observations similar to what Maciamo is talking about. I think academically speaking, the Japanese are good at memorization techniques. They are good at storing memory, from what I've noticed.

For example, my husband knows about all about all kinds of mechanisms. He knows how to take them apart and put them back together blindfolded, but if you were to ask him what his opinion is on whether buying those mechanisms new or keep on repairing the old ones/buying refurbished ones would save more money for his company, he would not be able to give a good answer(I've asked him before).

When it comes to politics or history or literature, I can't get any response at all, hardly. It can be very frustrating at times when I want to talk about the way I feel about Bush and why he's so bad for the country or discuss the benefits of socialized medicine or talk about Shakespeare and how he really captured the dark side of humans. If I want to have garbage disposal fixed free of charge, though, I'm good to go.

I remember asking my friend, Yumi(this was after knowing her for 4 years), about what she thought of the Timothy Woodland rape case in Okinawa and what she thought of the Marines being in Okinawa, and all she could do was giggle and say something that I shouldn't say here. I was looking for did she think they should be there and for what reason or if she didn't think they should be there for whatever reason, but I didn't get it. She could not give me an answer. Well, just an appalling response with a sexual reference and a giggle, but that was it.

I'm not faulting anyone. As you say, I think they are the most polite people on the globe, and that is very important. They are (mostly) very loyal, respectful, giving, and pleasant people to be around. Of course, I could get on another tangent about how genuine that can be, but, I won't.

Just know that I'm thankful for my Sony P7 and my Nintendo and of course, my husband and kids... ;)