Great post. Unless we become hesperophiles (chauvinists is another term for essentially the same thing)again, the continued existence of our culture is in serious jeapordy.
All of which leads to the question of what went right in Japan. I'm not sure it is actually helpful, but maybe there is something to be gleaned from Japan's opening to the West, Imperial Japan's wars of conquest, and the reconstruction after WW II.
Of all non-Western societies confronted by the West's technological superiority, the Japanese alone first succeeded in seeing off the Westerners (in the 1600's), then when that wasn't feasible, 'signing up' and modernizing and Westernizing on their own terms. (Within a decade of Admiral Perry refusing to leave Tokyo harbor, Tokyo had photo studios, beer breweries, the Japanese were building railroads, reorganizing and modernizing their military and educational systems on European lines.)
Of course the surving Japanese sense of superiority (oddly adapted to Westernization so that in manga--yes they existed back in Meiji times--Japanese were depicted as Western (yes, that started then, too) as oppose to other East Asians) lead to the attempt to enforce the 'Greater East Asian Coprosperity Sphere', the Rape of Nanking, and numerous other horrors.
Then, chastened by the defeat in WW II, Japan seems to have really 'signed up' and become a part of 'the West' (while still retaining the cultural oddities that make up anime otaku fond of them).
Was the really crushing defeat and the generous rebuilding of their country afterward the basis of this, or was the previous history of having partially Westernized on their own terms necessary? The Emperor cult of the Meiji Restoration didn't bode any better for Japan turning pacifist than does Islam for our current adversaries.
Any thoughts?