you bring gifts because it's the nice thing to do when invited. you bring souvenirs, which people have done for centuries not to make up for taking time off work, but because you have a relationship with your coworkers (relationship doesn't mean sexual or romantically only). something the west has and tries to push as well, see the silly walmart floor dance videos. it also implies you thought of them while being away.
the west also shames you when you quit your job to a degree, either because you leave your coworkers (and thus relationships) behind, you or someone else thinks "you gave up" or you think "my boss needs me". none of that is unique to japan, it's just done differently - and again individually there are often ways around it anyway. and again not unlike the west where saying the wrong shit, or simply not bending the knee to DIE, will kill any promotions, if not your career.
same for education, letting a kid fuck it's future is dumb (they're kids after all), but at least they're not sold into a college-debt ponzi scheme or fucked over due to the chemical composition of their skin. and it's not like japan isn't aware of it, compare the showa era to now. boomers are boomers in every society. but like any societal change it's slow (but inevitable) when it comes from the society itself. as much as you might laugh about MUH WEF MUH 2030, a fucking lot of all this shit over here is social engineering from outside forces.
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