Individualist societies like the West, especially the Anglosohere countries, always have a baseline level of discontent and unrest that provides just enough of a pressure release for people who are alienated or checked out, so that it takes a huge shift for things to really spiral out of control. Japan is a much more conformist society, which means there's a lot more pressure under the surface. It may not look like there's discontent, but it will take far less pressure for the dam to break there, and when it breaks it will really break.