Japan is a very unique society. It is grounded with social order and people are educated with the mind set of team work. Conversely, being different will be much more challenging in Japan than in the west. You won't find as many radically bright individuals like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, but they work together as one and are very persistent, yet humble.
The society is suffering from deterioration of the work force with the younger generation becoming less willing to pursue a career like their parents. Many of them rather live with temporary jobs, making just enough to live and enjoy life, which creates a void in the Japanese economic work force. I think a critical time like this will pull them together, put personal agendas aside and return to the teachings of their traditional values.
On another note, Yoko Ono was on Piers Morgan last night. Piers asked her about her opinion on the Japanese culture and how they handle crisis like this. For some reason she jumped into saying that now Japan will be the disneyland for architects to build their dream cityscape.... I thought that was a bit weird. May be she's left Japan for a bit too long. I don't really see her as a good representation of Japanese any ways.
not to mention the rest of the extreme devastation and the taunting nuclear disaster..
