Two other features of Japanese life seem to be even more noteworthy. One is the way the Japanese have kept alive and actually breathed new vigor into their traditional culture its arts, music, drama, literature and ways of life while at the same time imbibing deeply of the cultures of the outside world and sharing with other modern industrialized societies what might be called the contemporary international style of life. The other feature is the political and social changes that have accompanied economic modernization. These have transformed Japan from a tightly organized, highly aristo cratic, feudal society only a little over a century ago into a remarkably stable but extraor dinarily free, egalitarian and democratic society today. The people are basically contented and happy.
Crime is far lower than in most urbanized countries.
Though the land is intensely crowded, everything operates briskly and without confusion. Society is stable and moves along smoothly. The democratic political system, while operating in many ways quite differently from our own, produces the necessary decisions and efficiently provides the services it should. All in all, it would be hard to find any large country in our contemporary world that runs more efficiently, smoothly, fairly and openly than Japan. All this puts Japan in a unique position in the contemporary world.