[dirtyroboto]

It would seem that the only people concerned with being Japanese are gaijin.
For many Japanese it is just a normal daily routine of being one's best (this is a bhuddist type of behaviour) and respecting the other people around you.
This really does not hold true as many Japanese are assholes and ignorant, they are also idiots and rude. This in percentage terms is very good when compared to the west. In the West you are much more lightly to encounter the forementioned types then in Japan.
Japan for me as an English man is much more easy to understand then for most new worlders (read Yanks/Aussies) as we share many common points of heritage and a very long history. Because of this shared understanding of an island nation that is both strong and smart I find that being Japanese is as easy as being English.
It has been said of me by many Japanese, that I am very Japanese!
Yet I am no sushi fan nor do I like some other foods offered. But it is in the manners that I decline these foods that I am seen as Japanese.

I would suggest that British manners and Japanese manners are very connected if a touch distinct in their application. And that any human who can display good UK/JP manners (not the crap you get taught in USA) will be seen to be Japanese or British with little effort.

Please don't get me wrong USA people, but you really have a warped sense of manners that in Japan makes you stick out like a rude asshole.

Of course there are many sorts of people in all countries and you will find them all here in Japan, just not so polarized as in the west.