Frustrated Dave, you wanna handle this one, you always say it the best.
All i have to say is that Yersinya, those are some very blatant generalizations, and I don't think it is a real reflection of Japan. (Been here 4 and half years and really have not sensed it like that).
And to say that they are socially lagging behind? Don't you think you are judging them a little out of context and I little bit to much from your own cultural lens? Is that fact that they are a virtually crime free society compared to the rest of the world another one of their socially sick and retarded points? You may not agree with how they do things, but that doesn't necessarily make them backwards and wrong you know.