[bluepizza]

It is, for me, the number one most annoying aspect of life in Japan.

Every country has this - a large part of the population that has never been abroad and holds certain beliefs that would crumble upon closer inspection.

But when you get the word "Japan" in the mix, the individual suddenly disappears, and everything is explained away by cultural or genetic differences.

I really like the Cambridge Companion to Modern Japanese Culture. It takes you through many of these distortions, and how they came to be.