US and Japanese Societies

I spent couple of months in Yokohama, Japan in year 2006. During this period I got an opportunity to visit various parts of Japan and got to know the culture, values, progress and system of Japan. They are a great nation. Japanese are a homogeneous society, who are very shy to foreigners, unlike USA which is a very diverse society and always welcomed immigrants. The Japanese have a ‘king’, a very old institution since centuries who has no role in the government and is different from all the world monarchies. He is more a symbol of reverence and cultural values than authority. They have a very unique style of greetings. They are very formal in greetings. Humility, submission, respect and warmness are the characteristics of these greetings. Japanese do not shake hands in the greetings. They are so meticulous in their diet that before each dine they work out calories. They are very clean and if you visit their offices or restaurants , you need to put off your shoes. The environmental standards are very stringent. The homes are their cleanest places. Japanese are predominantly a non religious society, nevertheless Shinto’s is largely practiced followed by Buddhism by a small percentage. The isolation through a process of centuries has made them quiet in their habits. They do not like talking much in the public. So in the trains you can see people either reading , sleeping or sitting quiet. The bullet train is aero plan on land. So fantastic---- unbelievable. If US can boast on being the pioneer in automobile, the Japanese feel pride in talking about the bullet train. They have perhaps ,the best railways system in the world. The question which I am trying to make from this writing is that how the two most cultured societies on the extremes of each other have achieved the best development standards so far known to man—I mean the US society, so pluralistic, democratic, capitalistic, open and diverse in contrast to Japanese , a closed ,conservative, formal and homogeneous society.