Originally posted by thomas
That's really sad. What do you think is the reason for this ignorance? I mean people in the U.S. and Europe lead affluent lives too, still environmental issues are taken very very serious (there's a strong green movement in Europe). Are Japanese just afraid of being "the nail that stands out" when they try to take a stand?
Well, the last thing I'd like to do is attempt to explain something about Japan. But...

For me, all I can say is that I have one vote as a US citizen. If I see something as being wrong I'll try to use it to improve the situation. In Japan, I think that simply preserving the status quo is favored no matter what. And given that the status quo is pretty nice right now there is even less motivation to indeed change anything.

Kerr makes the point (actually it might have been in something else I read) that Japan's plan for recovering from WWII is still in place today even though recovery was completed about 40 years ago. In essence, very little (apart from superficial changes in culture) has really changed since then. In looking around, living, and working in Tokyo, I tend to agree.

Captain