Culturally Separated At Birth?

The borough of Brooklyn, New York and...

...the country of Japan?

Did Mr. Theroux find suspicion of strangers in any country on his latest journey? What about Japan? "Hmm . . . let me think," he responds, playing with his chin. "Japan doesn't have suspicion of strangers. They just have an utter lack of interest. They have a settled sense of themselves as an advanced culture, a sense that other people aren't doing things right. They think their food is best, their way of living is best. They lack space, but in all other ways they feel they've got it figured out."

Other similarities between the insular and arrogant cultures include a fondness for baseball, a love of eating contests, an inability for men to color coordinate, and an active organized crime community.