The case of Japan: How much soul for the bucks?

The question is simple, the answer may be complicated. The topic is the impact of modernity on Japanese culture, identity, society and way of life since the Meiji era.

My question is whether Japan was successful or not at harmonizing the modern Western influence with its traditional ways? Metaphorically speaking, do you think that Japan retained successfully its unique culture or do you feel it has traded in the process too much soul for the bucks?

Obviously, I am asking these questions with the current modernization in China in the background, but first let us concentrate on the case of Japan. Then, later, we can risk a look beyond our noses and the respective modernization pathes of China and Japan.

Originally posted by Omnipotence Only if one equates modernity = westernization. .. Does the acceptance of gunpowder and paper equate with sinicization?

That is the question. I always wonder which technologies are value-free and which imply also the adoption of attitudes and ways of thinking.

I would not say that, say, the adoption of railways and penicillin equates with westernization, but I would definitely say that to make continual technological and economic progress pre-modern societies had to adopt European modes of thinking and doing things whole sale. Putting an 1850 Japanese peasant, guild craftsman or Samurai in the driver's cab of a steam locomotive would not have worked with his traditional mind set even if he happened to be a technical genius.

The enormous efforts of the Meiji Japanese to reform their country in all aspects (institutions, law, army, education) and not to restrict themselves to merely adopting technology, provides ample evidence that their leaders were aware of that too,

But the question is how much of old Japan did they have to give away for that. Can we say that they had to let loose some in order to save the rest? But exactly how much and what was this 'some'?