A tourist in Japan is impressed by Japanese culture -coexistence of modern and traditional, past and future. Yet, it is a xenophobic culture – nice to visitors, not to immigrants. Even though its population is dwindling, it does not allow immigration. Elderly Japanese folk believe that outsiders will not be able to assimilate. They say this even about people who have been living there for generations. Koreans who were forced to settle in Japan around the second world war are still referred to as ‘residents’ still, not citizens.

When we refer to culture, we typically refer to the packaging and the performance – music, costumes, food, dance, literature. We never talk about mindsets. Why are the Japanese who appear so gracious and polite so intolerant of foreign ways? Why is East Asia least concerned by ideas such as ‘diversity and inclusion’?

Around the 17th century, just when Europeans and Christian missionaries were trying to penetrate Asia, the kingdoms of China (Ming), Japan (Edo) and Korea (Joseon) shut their doors to foreigners. They opened up, rather reluctantly, only in the 20th century.

Anyone who has dealt with Japanese people will observe how everything is choreographed and ritualised, even from the act of eating to the act of drinking tea, to arranging flowers, to conducting a meeting, to the act of giving a visiting card with two hands. Such a ritualised society does look rather quaint but it indicates the absence of individual freedom. A rigid ecosystem where everything is controlled. It is all about fitting in the system, being the cog in the wheel. The belief is there is a place for everyone and everyone is a place, but this takes away all diversity and dynamism which is necessary for the growth of a society.

For all its beauty, organisation and modernity, Japan has a high suicide rate. Life is stressful and competitive, with a widespread prevalence of mental health issues, amplified by the refusal to talk about it in public, as complaining brings shame to the family. Sociologists point to the intense violence observed in Japan’s porn industry. The same is true of the anime cartoons which look surreal with their baby-like eyes and the vicious movements of the blood-seeking Samurai sword. Then there are the drunks encountered in Tokyo subways on weekends, the very same people who seem so polished at daytime on weekdays.

Japan was at one time one of the most powerful industrial leaders of the world but currently suffers from negative inflation. This reminds us that technology can be a veneer. Modern clothes and modern tools do not indicate a modern mind, where an individual has agency and the freedom to chart his own course. Japan makes us wonder what is the purpose of culture – to domesticate people, or liberate the human mind.