[SINRT]

I came across this discussion randomly and registered to post a reply. I'm an American that lives in Singapore and has a high degree of familiarity with Japan, but wouldn't call myself any sort of expert.

A few thoughts:

-Japan clearly values social order, structure, hierarchy, etc more than most countries and its culture reflects this.

-Perceptions by foreigners of Japanese xenophobia are generally related to the point above: Behaviour which isn't in line with Japanese ideas of orderliness, structure, manners, etc is looked down upon or avoided. This is the root cause of "Japanse Only" signs at businesses or people avoiding foreigners, not some inherent dislike of foreigners.

-Similar to this, I think the primary issue Japan has with immigration is not economic ("they're stealing our jobs") but rather social. Immigrants in significant numbers cause social problems and disruptions (France, California, South Africa, Malaysia, etc) and Japan more than other countries values its structure.

-I agree 100% with the poster above about Japanese youth "growing up". Youth cultural trends are no indication of where the the country is going.
America's 1960's San Francisco hippies are calculating their 401K pension contributions in Houston now. Tokyo Rock'n'roll hipsters in Levis from the 80's are raising kids in Saitama today, grumbling about the price of groceries.

Anyway, thanks for listening.