Maybe the explanation is a bit overwrought but it’s a fact that Tokyo is astonishingly clean, and I never once saw someone drop large trash in the street, even though there aren’t bins.

That could be as simple as broken windows theory but the contrast with Brooklyn is striking.

The cultural attitude difference is real to some degree. People tend to smoke while standing in one place, a designated smoking area outside with an ashtray, not walk and smoke. This is a huge difference and reflects a priority on not annoying people around you.

That’s just one of many example I could give of what are obviously and viscerally differences in habit, custom, and perspective about consideration for strangers.