Nobody seems to add comments, so I would mention some. What I can definitely say is that we were/are not monotheism and will never be. We have actually religions to be happy, but why many of us have to find against each other. Many Japanese cannot understand that there were/are lots of problems due to that. It is natural to think that there is something above us, beyond imagination. It can be a god of nature for every phenomenon, there are lots of natural disaster in Japan as you know. And this may be the basis of how Japanese would think. Even some egoism can be seen in current Japan, but in general still group oriented thinking is dominating. Because it is very important to live together in a society. Japan has a culture, not to tell everything we think but to try to understand others from their situation or facial expression and to feel as if they were others in that place. This may cause to pay more respect and attention to others, in my opinion. It will not be changed also in the future. What have changed very much should be 1. the relationship between parents and children. Current young parents are like friends to their children. It was different long time ago. Children had much more respect for their parents, used the polite expression to them. 2. idea about working, a relationship between an individual and a company. An idea to work only in one company until the retirement does not exist anymore, especially for young people. But we tend to think in long run and company's frequent change of CEO due to annual based result does not fit to Japanese mentality. Actually, Japanese people are very curious and enjoy changes very much. New technology, new fashion style, new taste for food, a new restaurant and a new bar in the city….., therefore it attracts even foreign travelers to Japan, maybe, although it is not the all from Japan.