You're reducing your perception of a country into what you've "learned" from articles pointing out the most "not normal" aspects they can find.

As for your "more serious notes"; I think you're over-simplifying at best.

Instead of going crazy over defending Japan's honor, I think the article itself just confirms how unprofessional Kotaku is, what a bitch that guy is (can't even write, it's literally a rant you'll find on a forum), and that it is nothing more than a personal blog.

Yes, cycling can seem strange (by comparison to other countries) as an example.  I cycle a lot so to me it's fine but I can see that by comparison it's odd, for example in US walking / cycling can seem odd and in my experience American's do find it amazing how people cycle in places like Holland or walk around a lot in Europe in general.  I remember using a US tour guide in Rome once, and in one section being advised not to walk from A to B, A being the piazza where my hotel was and B being the Colesium.  I walked anyway - it was a30 minute walk!  Apparently that was too far for the average American tourist according to my guide.

Also various getting married drinking nights out, local customs, etc. can all seem odd if you compare them to another country, plus customs for eating, behaviours, etc.

For example when in US I tend to walk around because that's what I do.  The locals often think I'm mad!  On many occasions, because I'm clearly well dressed, etc. I've had cars stop, ask if my car's broken down and offer me a lift.  I explain I'm just walking 30 minutes from my hotel to my destination and they gape at me.  Why are you walking they ask?

I guess my point is that having travelled a lot I've realised that everywhere seems odd if you compare it to somewhere else - for example cycling is odd in Holland, etc. because they don't do it in US, conversley not cycling in US is odd because they do it in Holland... and so on.  So when I say everywhere is odd, I mean if you compare somewhere to somewhere else, and make one the baseline, the other always seems a little odd by comparison.

I liked the article, pretty funny

That is actually one of the best articles I have ever read.

It's also like 50 pages long.

Wow, I completely disagree. I thought it was the best thing Kotaku has every produced. I'm now a Tim Rogers fan.

Best thing from Kotaku i've ever read too... not that it's saying much.

Hm, i hope my girlfriend's friend isn't a vegetarian... she just moved there and likely wouldn't expect meat in bread.

i totally agree with that guy about anime

I recieved the following on my wall from Johnny testa, but my wall isn't for debates so I'll continue it here:

"first: anime and wrpgs suck. and japan is f/%&/ up.
second:japan population diminishes? really . japan birthrate is 1,2 per woman, but the netherlands is 1,3 per woman. thats what the demographers call "the lowest low "no human society has ever recover from that. that looks equally suicidal to me. thats what piss me off . i read somwhere that mohammed is the most popular baby name in amsterdam that means that dutchs are not having kids either "the double standar" why is holland different?"

If I may do a first, your first really confusses me.

Secondly, when I meant suïcidal I meant people jumping from buildings, huffing fumes in closed off garages and catching a train the wrong way. 

Thirdly, concerning the baby-names... there is quite a lot wrong with that section that I will do this in bullet-form:

• Did it ever occur to you that muslims can be full-fledged Dutch people as well?
• If one name is extremely popular, it doesn't mean that there are more "foreigners" born (again, these muslims consider themselves Dutch) - example: if in one class there are 5 boys named Muhammed, 1 named Jan, 2 named Kees, 1 named Hans, 2 named John and 2 named Gerard; Muhammed is still the most popular name but there are more native Dutch people in the class.
• You are using the stats of a single city for an entire country.

Fourth, there's the birth-rate. I'd love to see your sources. I prefer the birth-rate used per 1000 people. The Dutch score 10.4 births per 1000 citizens a year as of 2009. Japan scores 7.64 per 1000 and it seems like it is declining (http://www.indexmundi.com/Japan/birth_rate.html)
If you go by the UN or CIA world-fact book, Japan is nearly at the bottom of both lists. Granted, the Netherlands doesn't score either but we average out in Europe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_birth_rate

Lastly I would like to remind you that the only equation I pulled out of the whole Netherlands versus Japan thing was that of work/life balance - a point which you frankly side-stepped and which to me was my biggest concern and debatable argument.