@Kaarme They aren't actually a crazy rich country by most measures. They haven't been since the late 90s/early 2000s when the economic bubble burst. They have to import to much in the way of resources of just about every kind to maintain the level of development they have . They aren't "poor" by any means but they aren't super rich and rolling in capitol to spend. Hell China sits above Japan in a lot of wealth metrics including national net worth but I'm sure most people, especially the average Chinese citizen, don't consider themselves a "filthy rich" country. lol
That said even when they were having a massive economic boom going on they still tended to be "thrifty" when it comes to spending in a lot of areas. If it's more economical and efficient they don't mind making people suffer some and most Japanese will just accept it with the 'shikata ga nai' attitude. Because the people are willing to just deal with it a lot of places like to cut corners where they can. It's not odd to see even some modern buildings like schools or government offices that have no central heating/air and things like that simply because someone in charge thought spending on it was frivolous. One of the guys I work with has a daughter in Toyko who works as a teacher and they use kerosene heaters in the classrooms of the school she works at during the winter and just open windows during the summer because there isn't any central heating or A/C in the building. I'm sure the school could afford to have it but since no one really will complain they take the opportunity to save on the budget.
