One thing the article failed to mention directly is the shared monoculture.  Their culture is such that some aspects of it are observed by most people there.<p>As they mention, young children are involved early on with community work.  They also have instilled compliance from an early age --ever notice all the voice commands everywhere?  In school, at the subway, at the combini, at the depato, at the escalator.  It&#x27;s pervasive and it results in a society homogenous in many aspects.  Of course, there are dissidents and outcasts and otaku and non-conformists, but most observe core attitudes.<p>I think this contributes to the way they can have a degree of dependability on others.  That&#x27;s not to say there aren&#x27;t deviants and people who take advantage of the norms.  But to borrow from their vocabulary, they are unique, in some ways, and I don&#x27;t think it&#x27;s transplantable.