Recently, American tech entrepreneur and anti-vaxxer Steve Kirsch tweeted about his encounter on a flight with a woman who refused his offer of $100,000 to remove her mask for the duration of the flight. He said he explained to her that masks don't work and pointed out that when she removed her mask to eat, she could be infected in a breath. Clearly, his idea of how masks should work is only to protect the wearer. This idea is widespread in the West. Even the Mayo clinic website says, of surgical masks, gThey're meant to protect the wearer from contact with droplets and sprays that may contain germs.h Here in Japan, as in East Asia generally, wearing a mask is considered a courtesy to others. Before the pandemic, people here wore masks when they had a cold or the flu in order to reduce the chance of infecting those around them. These opposing ways of thinking about masks reflect the profound difference between the individualist attitude of the West in contrast to the community minded attitude of the East. This summer I was visiting family in Canada, and a friend of the family told me that he had read a lot of information about vaccines on the internet: the covid vaccines had been rushed into production very quickly; the covid vaccines use a new method, injecting RNA rather than a weakened virus into the body; there are adverse effects from the vaccines that can sometimes be fatal. My reply was yes, all that is true, but the risk of harm to one who is vaccinated is tiny compared to the advantage to society as a whole. The argument that the benefit to the community outweighed the risk to the individual is not very persuasive to the average Westerner. Individual sacrifice for the greater good is considered anathema. Now, the once fringe anti-vaxx idea is almost mainstream in the West, and that summer, a case of polio, a disease that vaccines had eradicated decades ago, was reported in the U.S.A. Beyond public health concerns, Western individualism has a negative impact on other aspects of life, such as transportation. In Canada and the U.S. almost everyone drives. Public transportation, where it exists, is notoriously shoddy, and it is rapidly disappearing. Bus services from major cities to country towns no longer exist in many places. In Canada, passenger rail service has all but disappeared. Even freight rail lines are disappearing; trucking provides more jobs to individuals and burning gasoline is cheaper than maintaining rail infrastructure. One would think that, given the climate crisis and lip service politicians pay to it, North Americans should be increasing rail freight lines and public commuter services rather than cutting them. The negative impact of Western individualism on public transportation is not new. In the 1970s I heard a Spaniard claim that Japanese were stupid because they paid full fare on the trains even though it was easy to cheat. I had been on Spanish trains in the 1970s. They were dirty, unreliable and dangerous. In contrast, Japanese trains even then, were clean, punctual and safe. It did not seem to me that it was the honest and civic minded Japanese who were the stupid ones. Another difference between Western individualism and Eastern community conscience involves lost personal property. Many Westerners who come to Japan are amazed that when one loses a personal item, even cash, more often than not, it can be recovered at train station office or a local police box. The reason is that when Japanese find something of value lying on the street or left on a train their first thought is, gSomeone lost this. They must be worried,h and they will turn the item in to a lost-and-found office or the police. When Westerners find something of value, their first thought is, gIt's my lucky day,h or, more ironically, gThank you Jesus!h An elderly American Christian once told me he knew, for a fact, that God existed and that prayer worked. He explained: he once went on a camping trip and realized he had forgotten to bring a knife, and so that night he prayed fervently for a knife. The next morning when he set off down the trail, there lying on the ground before him, was a sheathed knife. Surely, the Good Lord was personally interested in his welfare. It is not really surprising that this old gentleman would not recognize the post hoc fallacy in his reasoning about this event, but it is strange that someone who claims to follow the teachings of Christ would not have the slightest thought for his unfortunate fellow man who lost the knife. Perhaps there are some benefits to individualism, but I personally would rather live in a society where people care about each other.