I felt something new on a recent international trip to Japan, something I’ve never felt in my travels to 23 countries across 5 continents. Something I’m not proud of as an American.
I felt that the United States, in critical areas, is not only not a world leader, but it’s not even a model anymore.
By the conclusion of every international journey, I’m reminded how lucky I am to have been born into such a miraculous society and ready, sometimes eager, to return to the United States.
It’s never one reason or the same reason. In Colombia, Mexico, Panama, and Tanzania, the scenes of urban and rural poverty are jarring. In South Africa, the decay and violence of Johannesburg are terrifying. Egypt and Jordan are beautiful in many ways but culturally backward in others. Russia (Moscow, especially) is suffocating in gloominess. Western Europe is a delight to visit but lacks vitality; it’s a stunning museum that pays homage to a once-vibrant civilization.
In the U.S., we’re blessed with abundant space, resources, and options. Americans take for granted that every day the lights will turn on, the water will come out of the tap, the roads and highways will be open, the grocery shelves stocked, and the WiFi strong — among thousands of other blessings of modernity and competence that ensure most of us rarely have to think about the first two needs of the Maslow hierarchy — physiological and safety needs.
But there’s more that makes America exceptional, of course. The U.S. attracts many immigrants whose material needs are met but who want more wealth, opportunity, freedom, creativity, culture, tolerance of risk, and adventure.
As a tourist anywhere, Japan included, you only notice surface-level characteristics of the society, especially when you don’t speak the language. But what you see remains valid and relevant. In Japan, I saw a civilization that is functionally more competent and culturally healthier than America in several ways.
With over 37 million people, Tokyo is the largest city in the world. It is vibrant, bustling, clean, and safe. Yet, have the political leaders of New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles attempted to learn from the successes of a metropolis multiple times larger than theirs?
Working professionals dress professionally. The sea of black suits and white shirts is too uniform for my taste, but it beats showing up to work (even if work is at home) dressed for the gym or movie night.
Every resident I interacted with — from service staff to passersby — was exceedingly courteous, respectful, and deferential by American standards. Service staff performs their work with a sense of care and duty. Each time I would hand my credit card to a cashier, she would receive it with cupped, outstretched hands as if I were giving her something precious and fragile.
The public transit impresses. Tokyo’s subway system is a perfectly manageable labyrinth, and the Shinkansen, Japan’s bullet train, is stellar: fast (up to 200 MPH), comfortable, and practical — I used it to go from Tokyo to Kyoto to Hiroshima and back, over 1,000 miles round trip.
The Japanese do not seem to be infected with many Americans’ reverence for victimhood. There are still Japanese alive who remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the even more destructive firebombing of Tokyo, and the humiliation of defeat and occupation. Four out of five Japanese believe the bombings were unjustified, according to a 2015 Gallup survey, and yet Japan holds America in high esteem. According to this 2022 survey, the Japanese are more supportive of dominant U.S. leadership and have a stronger opinion of U.S. democracy than Americans. American brands and stores are ubiquitous on the island, and Japan embraces being under the U.S. military’s umbrella with China and North Korea across the pond. The Japanese could hate America but don’t because they don’t see themselves as victims.
Americans are obsessed with their rights. Japanese with their obligations. Here, Japan has it right. People who prioritize what they owe others make society better than people who prioritize what they feel others owe them.
The American ideal is for the government to be preoccupied with not infringing on Americans’ rights and for Americans to be concerned with fulfilling their obligations to one another. So, for example, drag queen story hour at the local library is not a fundamental American right — but protecting a child’s innocence is every adult’s obligation.
The American ideal of a limited government with enumerated powers, of the people, by the people, and for the people is fit “only for a moral and religious people” and “wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
I’m not moving to Japan. Even if I wanted to, Japan’s restrictive immigration laws would make it difficult (America could learn a thing or two there). But sometimes, it takes sleeping in someone else’s house to see how much you can improve about your own.
Jared Sichel is a partner at Winning Tuesday, an award-winning political marketing agency, and a Claremont Institute 2023 Lincoln Fellow.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.