Stability is a more appropriate term.

Japanese culture values stability very highly. People in this thread believe this kind of stability results in low economic mobility. In the US, people associate high economic mobility with meritocracy.

There's a couple leaps to be made in both associations, but I think that's what the gist is.

You have to conform to the "life plan" of your station, what your parents expect, what they raise you to, what your peers (from a similar background) are doing.

From the wiki: "prefer the continuation of a harmonious community over their personal interests". That's directly opposed to meritocracy.

And how measure a societies level of either. Few would disagree that conformity was stronger in Japan than the US, but it’s got to be hard to measure.