While I sympathize with "Tracy," it's a big rough dragging up something from 20 years ago and saying its indicative of what goes on in Japan today. Although the article eventually acknowleges this, it takes a hell of a long way down the page to do so...For all their faults, I think Japanese blokes have made massive improvements in this area since I first arrived here in the late '80s (I wish I could say the same for myself...)
Jeezus, 20 years ago, Japan was a land of milk and honey (and four seasons), poised to take over the world (as the denizens never stopped reminding me...).