Yeah Japanese culture is very, very different from the West. But it also comes with its own set of problems and challenges.

As a gay guy I've always thought about the topic in your last sentence; I agree that male problems (suicide rates, expectations, hypermasculinism etc) get largely ignored, in part due to a tightly integrated hierarchy of social rules and expectations - men (ignoring feelings, emotions, trying to be tough all the time) women (reliance on men, encouraging/supporting hypermasculine behaviours).

I find it both interesting & sad the way that heterosexual (& bisexual, etc) male behaviour completely changes (often for the worse) when a woman walks into the room. I don't see this as much at all in the opposite scenario, though I won't say that gay men don't sometimes exhibit the same aggressive behaviours that straight men often do.

It's just sad to watch men not care about certain aspects of themselves that are deemed weak, and that society has no value for men not attached to a family unit (hence the suicide rate). Also look at rates of homelessness - women are more likely to be taken in/given much more leeway by family etc than men are as a man down on his luck is a "problem" aka useless. It's the same with calling for women to be forced into drafts the same way men are - heterosexual response to that is staggering - the same frequency as the response I get as a man if I say I _don't_ want to fight in a war (aggression, being called a coward, the vitriol received for being a "draft dodger").

I know why it is the way it is, though and unlike many others I never forget that we're all still just animals at our very core.

>get largely ignored, in part due to a tightly integrated hierarchy of social rules and expectations

I think this might change in the future when men realize the social contract reward for it has been reduced to rubble.

>male behaviour completely changes (often for the worse) when a woman walks into the room

I observed this many times and disliked it to the point of acting the reverse (disinterested) which ironically resulted in the opposite outcome at least temporarily. I think it certainly applies to women too but is just less observable because its more passive instead of active. The standard of the average men is also a lot "lower" (actual average) compared to women's to get active.

>I think this might change in the future when men realize the social contract reward for it has been reduced to rubble.

That's a great point but I don't think it ever will. Said social contracts are dictated by our underlying biology and whilst we may adjust or tweak them over time the fundamentals of them will stay the same. But who knows, maybe I'll be surprised and the higher order social rules will completely overcome the lower order animal rules.

If there will be a change it will be driven by technology for better or worse. Maybe not change but replace, robot and ai companions come to mind.