Japan- Part 1

In my ten-day trip, I had the opportunity to see several cities in central and western Honshū of Japan. The culture, customs, and traditions are very different from what I have experienced in Iran and in the past 9 year in the United States. There was an strong element of culture shock and also excitement on my part, trying to learn and respect their customs during my stay in Japan.
My observations are limited to these several days and all are subjective- since these are how I perceived of the culture in japan, in combination with the information that I acquired from several books and Internet resources days before I go to my journey. So, many of these observations are purely my perceptions- so they many be different from other people's experience.
There were several cultural elements that repeatedly got my attention: A strong collective culture, strong order and perfectionism, respect, and conformism and honor.

Let me explain what I mean by each of these cultural elements. What I observed initially in Japan, was a very strong collective culture. The concept of individuality is an extremely faded concept (Well, there are always exceptions to the mainstream of every society, I try not to generalize). Every person seems to have his or her own place and function in the society, and the majority are content with their role in the society. Living for several years in the U.S., which there is an extreme emphasis on individuality, makes you see the gap deeper.
In every establishment that you visit, these is an strong order to everything. If you imagine a restaurant, let it be in a small village or Tokyo, You will find out that it is sparkly clean and extremely orderly. Transportation systems, specially the subway systems and intercity train systems are extremely efficient, with almost no delays, they arrive and leave the station at the specified hour and minute mentioned in their schedule before. I took the train several times from Shinagawa station. Millions of people arrive there in the morning to go to work and leave the station at night. I never had a train late for even one minutes. The huge station, was extremely clean and spotless. The opposite extreme of the New York City subway system! The order and perfection is at its extreme in this culture.
Respect is also an strong element in Japanese culture. It matters in everyday functions and meetings. Without exaggeration, one third of daily conversations of people consists of saying welcome and greetings, thanking and apologizing accompanied with bowing. There are always self-organized lines for getting into the train or subway, restaurants, or any other establishment.
Conformism is something that I felt very strongly in Japan. There is a strong wish for individuals to fit into the pre-existing structure of the society, and they feel the happiest when they fit the best in the structure. This element seems to be changing gradually among the younger generations. Conformism is also strongly coupled with honor, so the best fit in the society and performing your job well, bring you a great deal of honor. In contrast, failing in your social status, job, etc, is a heavy burden on individuals and some feel that they have lost their honor. The suicide statistics is rather high in Japan. I read about these accidents, several of these individuals throwing themselves in front of the trains. Most of them are high school students at the time of getting their final exam grades, or salarymans feeling that they have lost their honor and respect at their job. It was and strange experience for me, so instead of standing against the non-fitting societal structure and going towards their individual way of life (non-conformism), many still prefer to blame themselves and in some extreme cases take their own life. It felt as a modern day version of the Samurai Seppuku, a form of suicide for regaining honor.