[floatr][/floatr]Modbee.com: Japan reveals cultural uniformity's advantages, drawbacks
...Halfway around the world is a place where diversity is unknown and people prosper despite (because?) of it. Japan, which I and a small group of Modestans recently visited, is downright xenophobic...Yet what it has achieved is truly amazing. Surrounded by a protective sea...and with essentially no oil or natural resources, it has achieved general affluence and the world's second-largest economy. The streets are swept and clean. I never saw a beggar in three weeks and signs of the homeless were few. People were well-dressed, uniformly civil and polite. By Western standards, crime and drug problems are minimal...The government governs with a minimal presence and, all in all, peace, civility and rationality reign. There are some downsides to this nondiverse uniformity. Dullness, for one. And when a society uniformly decides to march in a certain direction, it helps to pick the right direction. Think World War II...more...