&gt;It&#x27;s not correct to lump all westerners into one group like that.<p>You&#x27;re nitpicking.  Sweedes, Danes, Russians and really everybody in the Western hemisphere is miles more individualist than the Japanese.<p>The irony is that you seem to be mistaking me for an American while having no real counterpoint; the fact remains that we&#x27;re probably missing a cultural element.