Why is Japan so insular?

While I respect you asking a legitimate question, I would recommend being cautious while reading this thread. Discussions about Japanese culture, and foreign cultures in general, tend to be dominated by westerners retelling ideas they've read by other western people on the internet.

Japan not having a large presence in American social networks makes it especially vulnerable to exoticization, speculation, and exaggeration of issues in the country. Especially when the discussion is largely (not always) the result of a long game of telephone.

I'm sure the commenters mean well, just take everything with a grain of salt and do some of your own research into the ideas presented here.

I would point to

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_shogunate

as this behavior at its peak. There is still a lot of nostaglia for this period in Japan, for instance the (excellent I think) anime

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gin_Tama

is set in a fictionalized version of the subsequent Meiji Period and communicates how people at that time felt they'd lost control of their culture. Historians are not really kind to the Tokugawa period which if I had to characterize in a sentence it would be "Samurai were big shots but they'd forgotten how to cut your head off with a katana", the book

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture_of_Narcissism

is frequently seen as a critique of "postmodern times" in the US but it's commonly seen in Japan as relevant to that period.

Many cultures hold on to tradition because it's like rappelling down a cliff. Rappel too fast and you're in free fall. Keep it controlled and you won't descend into crazy untested ideas. America didn't keep its traditional values which is why we lack so much of the decency the Japanese show. As a small stupid example: In Japan you can leave a vending machine out in the middle of nowhere unattended (except for restocking) and it won't get stolen from or destroyed. In America it wouldn't last a day unfortunately.

There are probably lots of reasons.

For one, monoculture can develop when a culture looks backward in a convergent way, developing "the" story of itself, and deriving lessons and forward-facing stances therefrom. This itself was a strong tradition in Japanese culture for what, over a thousand years? It's still very obviously a valued practice in Japan.

Even the cultural trauma narratives have legend-style stories to them, which is interesting in lots of ways but by definition very closed off in others.

The same traits can be observed in organizational culture in general, for example in high-demand (of their membership) religions and certain businesses.

If you combine this with things like geographic isolation (the island excuse gets thrown around a lot), specific cultural movements, a couple of well-timed typhoons, etc., the additional isolation effect has throughout time been able to seal out new perspectives and recirculate more of the previous ones.

A lot of specific and very beautiful refinements can thrive in these kind of circumstances though, so it's not all bad news.

Just some thoughts.

Why is Japan like Japan ? Read about "uchi" and "soto", and how Japanese society was, is, and most likely will be for the foreseeable future, since the gates of Immigration are still closed -- other than for the revolving door they open slightly for sorely needed temporary workers, never to let them stay.

Japanese society is quite different from Chinese society -- whether from China, Taiwan, or elsewhere. From any other, really.

I don't blame them though. Every time I visit the West it just feels like going to hell. ( In Japan for three decades, married to Japanese with Japanese children, who are called, of course, "half". And yet they have a better life in Japan than they could anywhere else. We've been hearing about the decline of Japan since the 90s. Still waiting for it to be the horrible place everyone keeps warning it's becoming. )

An odd question. They're coming out of, as you note, hundreds of years of isolation. Yes, it's a long time since Commodore Perry set foot on the island, but culture moves slowly and historic behaviors leave evidence for centuries afterwards.

Consider how national policies and attitudes around the world have changed over the centuries beyond the scope of your own lifespan. Look at how trends change over large timescales. Consider eating utensils, currencies, attitudes to sexuality, etc.

I think it happens in certain circumstances to any type of people, not just East Asian. The same could be said for the Turks. They are also very much into their own culture, and are ethnically homogenous, despite being previously an inclusive and imperial society. The United States can be said to be like that to an extent but with two separate cultures instead of one.

They are literally an island nation

This book might interest you: Culture Hacks: Deciphering Differences in American, Chinese, and Japanese Thinking https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Hacks-Deciphering-Differences...

Why would they want that? Groups with strong ethnic identity (like the Japanese) want their lands to be inherited by their descendants; this is the default historical position. But atm the Japanese are going to zero with their low birthrate, so idk.

I actually like how the Japanese have preserved their culture. With East Asian nations it is easy to fall into the trap of over-westernization as many of Japan's counterparts have done. I think South Korea is the most prominent example.

Korea gave me a very off-putting vibe when I visited. It felt like a massive, heartless tribute to capitalism. I got the sense of a certain perversion of western culture, where a glorification of American culture but no real understanding of it resulted in a strange and confused interpretation that struggles to mix with traditional Korean culture.

Japan on the other hand came across as actually a socialist nation. Wealth tax is heavy and the top bracket of earners don't make much more than the average. There wasn't this glorification of wealth that's so prevalent in western societies. Moreover, in contrast to western nations that prioritize self-interest, they are so organized and respectful of top-down policymaking that it can be seen as a fault in many cases. It made me think if there was one country that could handle climate change, it would be Japan.

Preservation of these different perspectives makes the world interesting, and allows us to learn from each other. Being "insular" is a great thing, in my opinion.

'Insula' is literally the Latin word for 'island'.

The geography might inform the culture.

What do you mean by “integrating culturally with others”? What would be examples of that?

You're aware that "insular" means "island-like"?

Its their country. Not every nation has to turn into a western cult.