I don't think anyone can be entirely wrong or right about a problem as complexed as this one. Here is a quick answer to your post though:
>>>I have lived in this country on and off for about 8 years, and I have to disagree with you in part.
Cultural differences are as most things on many levels. It is easy to point out the turist in a crowd
based upon more general differences.<<<
after which you say:
>>>Most often we allow our view to cloud the issue at hand. How do Swedes,the French, or Japanese
deal with their problems. On the surface we may feel we have a grip on how things work. Even when
we have been around awhile to study the habits and behaviors of said peoples, we are still missing a
large part of the whole picture.
<<<
Cultural differences or not, some systems work better than others and while I don't advocate US intervention, pressure or past policies, I must say that apart from the environmental havoc caused by western industrialisation (a topic in its own right, perhaps not on this thread though) western democracies and their societies are what success is measured by right now. I referred to the environment problems, let me just say that it is not confined to western countries, communism has created even greater environmental atrocities precisely because nobody was able to voice their disagreement and that nobody had a legal mechanism to force a review of the projects which ultimately ended in massive failures on all points, economical, environmental, social, human etc...
Sorry to take the long way around but I am trying to get at this:
while it appears that societies should better be able to deal with their respective problems in their own culturally appropriate ways, a lack of accountability, impossibility to appeal to a higher civil and neutral body, and most importantly a lack of transparency in official dealings are problems that transcend culture and that will have an adverse impact on any society. (Indonesia is a prime example, Japan in many respect has its own horror stories as do many western countries)
I don't care if they say the Japanese want to avoid conflict at all cost (that is true, I see it weekly in the meetings I have to attend) in the end, this lack of healthy debate only serves to reinforce the severity of their problems and the deadlock they are in. One ray of hope , they know it well, and over the years have brought changes to the decision system. Like it or not, they are changing, in order to survive. I have attached part of a message that came from an e-newsletter I subscribe to, Japan Environment Monitor, to prove my point; that is to show that the kind of transparency and debate that should be happening is not, and I think it would be beneficial if they moved that way as soon as possible.
>>>>>
21st Century Committee Questionnaire Reveals "Worst 100
Wasteful Public Works Projects"
Wetlands Most Threatened
By Maggie Suzuki,
Japan Wetlands Action Network
5th August 1998
On May 28th, the "21st Century Environment Committee,"
composed of scholars, journalists, and other leading citizens,
published a list of "One Hundred Wasteful Public Works Projects"
based on a questionnaire survey sent out to about 300 citizens'
groups around the country; 98 groups nominated about 200
projects from 40 prefectures. Criteria for choosing a project
included cost-benefit and environmental impact. The Committee
concluded, "We were able to confirm that there are a great many
problematic public works projects all over the country. We hope
the present survey will kick off a thorough re-evaluation of large-
scale public works projects from the environmental and cost-
benefit points of view."
Dams, including estuary dams, and other river management
projects were most numerous (32), followed by harbors (11 each),
roads (9) and airports (8). The prefecture with the highest
number of wasteful projects was Hokkaido (eight), followed by
Tokushima (six), with Mie, Aichi, and Okinawa having five each.
The most frequently offending national government agency was
the Ministry of Construction (29), followed by the Ministry of
Transportation (11). Many local government projects were also
listed.
The amount of money being wasted could not be fairly
calculated, partly because authorities often refuse to publish
projected costs of projects planned or under construction. For
example, authorities refuse to reveal estimates for the ultimate
projected cost of the Isahaya Land Reclamation Project; so far
costs have roughly doubled since the project started in 1989. 21st
Century Committee members spoke of a ballpark total somewhere
in the vicinity of 6 trillion yen (@ US$1 = 140 yen, 42.8 billion US
dollars), quite a chunk of change when you consider this does not
include the monetary value of the environmental services lost, for
example, by reclaiming tidal flats.
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