The more Japanese come under attack by Westerners, the more implacable they become in defending their values and culture.

Isnt that a bit of a childish attitude?

I wonder if self reflection is taught in school.

well i feel like every country does the same... US, european countries... if they feel their "culture" is being insulted or attacked they answer not always in the smartest way...

I agree with whatanidiot. But many Japanese people could care less about this subject. Whale meat, schmale meat.

It's the same vicious circle that exist in many us versus them situations; vegetarians vs omnivores, enviormentalist vs non-enviormentalist, right-wing vs left-wing, pro-life vs pro-choice and so on. Instead of trying to work together and making an arrangement that some what works for both sides(compromise), they throw rational thinking aside. Without ratoinal thinking, both approach the problem believing that they are 100% correct and they will not compromise, which causing them to start feeding off of each others negativity. That negativity leads to both sides continuously being polarized and in the end you wind up with the a situation like Japanese whaling or worse.

Even if they don't really value it, or if it's not really an important part of their culture anymore.

This attitude of course isn't specific to Japan, but it is a lot more prevalent. Obviously, Americans (my "people") have blown a lot of hot air in that direction, but the culture at large at least has the common sense to be ashamed of it.

Ridiculous as it sounds, imagine if America tried to segregate again...sadly, a lot of people would probably get behind this. How much respect would people give its defenders if they said "racism is an American tradition, you can't judge us?"

Sorry for the ridiculous example, but that's part of the point. There is no feasible parallel, because, bad as we can be, we're ultimately part of the modern world. Hence, there's no feasible parallel to Japanese whaling because we, as a culture, don't tolerate that kind of behavior. We certainly have plenty of issues, yes, but we'll at least expect substantial reasons for the assorted positions. We don't simply say "we're American, so it's OK" as our countrymen comply by silence.

When America's got you beat in the emotional maturity department, you've got serious issues.