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Comment by nerdcity | Hacker News Reader

>“It’s been decided by the government as a whole, so our job is just to go ahead with it,” said an official at the personnel affairs division.

This sentiment makes me feel ill...

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You'll find that the Japanese relate to government (and indeed most forms of group dynamics) quite differently from Westerners. I think there's a cultural element you and I are missing, here.

It's not correct to lump all westerners into one group like that. Although this attitude is probably quite foreign to Americans, I see it quite often among Swedes and Danes.

>It's not correct to lump all westerners into one group like that.

You're nitpicking. Sweedes, Danes, Russians and really everybody in the Western hemisphere is miles more individualist than the Japanese.

The irony is that you seem to be mistaking me for an American while having no real counterpoint; the fact remains that we're probably missing a cultural element.

> Russians

Let me doubt this. There are a lot of individualist (esp. in large cities like Moscow and St.Petersburg), but they seem to be somewhat outnumbered by an awfully large number of Russians who consider government as having ultimate authority. I think we can well try to compete with many eastern countries in this regard.

Perhaps, although having Russian family and having spent a few months in Kyoto, my impressions are quite different. To be clear: Russians are much more collectivist than, say, the French. There's no doubt about that.

Either way, this entire thread of conversation remains a pedantic derailment of an original point that still stands.

Not in my experience, but whatevs.

s/government/employer/ and I'm sure there will be millions of Americans having no problem with it.

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