Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world
Their society comes at a heavy cost
The USA has a relatively high suicide rate and is famously not conformist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_r...
Lots of slack granted to foreigners who aren’t expected to know the rules. Lots of slack granted to Japanese people who are free to be normal, hikikomori, nerdy, NEET, sporty, etc. Slack to be and do whatever unless you bother someone.
It’s just slack you don’t really notice immediately unlike the menu stuff.
Foreigners might have some slack in some ways but in many ways it's quite the opposite... so there's both good and bad IMO.
"Free to be normal etc." I don't consider that slack either, that's just having a generic free society to me.
The same situation with the bus driver would also never happen, they could easily get fired for allowing it. Train conductors even have to apologize for being early. There's also a lot more open racism and discrimination in various ways (example: drinking bar admittance or apartment rentals) and in various parts of their society that goes completely unpunished.