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 As to your point out being divided and isolated, I think it's a universal problem now, not just Japan. Most human interactions today seem to be mediated by a pane of glass. When I lived in Japan, I remembered that on the train to Tachikawa, it felt like every face was looking down towards a phone. But it's the same in Moscow. It's the same everywhere. 

Even in restaurants, you witness couples that aren't looking at each other — they're both looking at different apps. Sharing distance.