08-21-2013, 12:42 PM
Have you spent much time in Japan? The police are the opposite of authoritarian. Japan is a homogeneous collectivist culture, but it is not Confucian, you are thinking of China. Respect is the key to their culture, they tend to shame rather then exert overt authority. One new years morning at about 5 am when my group of Japanese friends were leaving the bar in Ikebukuro we were to drunk to find the train station, so one of the girls went into the police station which scared the **** out of me, the police officer kindly took her to the stairs in 10 feet in front of the station which led down to the platform. Another time when I was flying down the highway at ungodly speeds in my friends silvia, it was interesting that the police did not pursue, despite speeds of well over a ton. Really revolutionized my thinking on authority.