[smallpaul]

I believe that Python, Java, C#, Objective-C and Javascript all have the same basic approach to this problem. The Ruby way is better for handling some Japan-specific problems. But that's at the cost of making life harder and less predictable for everyone else.

It's a pretty straightforward tradeoff. Of course people who are not Japanese will naturally be upset to pay a cost in complexity for a feature of benefit primarily to a programmers from a single country. Non-Japanese Ruby programmers will just have to decide whether their solidarity with Japanese programmers outweighs their personal and collective inconvenience.