Conformity within a society means that there are certain norms, laws, and traditions that people are expected to follow or they will face some form of social or physical castigation. Independence within a society means a deviation from accepted norms or modes of behavior. Since most contemporary societies are comprised of a diverse ethnic and racial population, there is usually room for some independent thought or action--if only because of the plurality of customs practiced. Of course, some customs, such as a society's laws, necessarily mandate conformity. In a society such as Japan's, which does not have a diverse population--being mainly comprised of Japanese--conformity to a particular set of customs, norms, and traditions have been more marked, and deviation from these modes of behavior has begun to surface only in the last several decades. This adherence to conformity has cost the Japanese privacy in their personal lives, and it has stifled independent thinking because it is synonymous with group consensus.
Westerners have always viewed Japan as a homogenous society where conformity to tradition has always been prized over independence. Indeed, this has been the circumstance well into the twentieth century. Conformity in Japan has meant that sons have followed the occupations of their fathers, parents and adult children have often lived together in the same household, parents have been taken care of in their old age by their children, wives have obeyed their husbands (Ogawa & Retherford, 1993, p. 586), and workers have worked in the same company for life. It has also meant a strong work ethic. There was very little room in Japanese society for independent thought or individuality, and this is in part, because of its homogeneity.
Although Japan is still a homogeneous society, having only a small population of non-Japanese, Japanese citizens (whether ethnic Japanese or Koreans--the next largest group in Japan) ...