Australia has announced sweeping reforms to its rules on immigration and citizenship. It has discovered that national identity is important and must be preserved. In fact, the group instincts that hold us together as a nation are stronger than most realize and operate at every level of society.
For example, ever wonder why we get annoyed when people in a crowded train carriage begin speaking into their cellphones? But we do not mind so much when they talk loudly among themselves?
One answer is that we all tend instinctively to bond with the people immediately around us. So we can tolerate the loud talkers in our train carriage group. But we feel excluded when they talk to outsiders. The aversion to cellphone conversations may be stronger in Japan than elsewhere, but to some extent we all share the group instincts of the Japanese.