I don't totally agree James. I think there are aspects of the culture here that will always remain very distinctly Japanese regardless of any outside influences.
The thing they find hard to cope with is the idea of multiculturlism. Allowing numerous cultures to flourish in somewhat harmony with each other. Of course in practice there are always some issues to overcome with multiculturalism but from my experience in Australia (a country that has annual immigration intake of between 150 and 250 thousand people) most of the issues are sorted out within a couple of generations. Of course those that like to hang onto some ideal of their national identity and the racists never quite jump on board with the idea of multiculturalism
