Now since Japan has the equivalent of 50% of the US pop crammed into a land mass the same size as Montana, you really do have to allow that Japan is relatively crowded. I'm afraid the pictures you saw are representative snapshots of daily life in many parts of Japan.
In truth, though, Japan's density is not all that different from many parts of asia --the Gobi Desert be damned. Japan is substantially less crowded than Singapore, for example. While you have there a strikingly different form of government than in the US (no bubble gum, etc.), you have a similar grass-roots tolerance of ethnic differences; Indians, whites, and Malays abound. A whole panoply of peoples peacefully carve out a living, side by side. This kind of thing is true for many parts of Asia.
Japan is different.
You have an explosion of foreign influences, yes. You have a high standard of living, yes. You have an incurable affection for technology, yes.
But western people? No. Large numbers of foreigners here for good? Again, no.
And non-Japanese Asians living here face rough sledding. The Japanese will take them as bar hostesses and prostitutes --Japan needs those in great numbers, because you if you can't speak honestly to your boss at work, and finally go home to your spouse who lords over you, you build up a lot of stress.
It needs to come come out, somehow, right?
Oh, wait. There is one more group of foreigners the Japanese system needs quite badly:
PROFESSIONAL APOLOGISTS.
Professional apologists plying threadbare "race cards."
Are the Ainu still treated as they were a few years back? Perhaps the Japanesee might be willing to set up some NK refugee camps near their villages.
Wonder if our apologists could even bear to write the name of these shunned citizens...much less supply photos.
But interesting just how a photo of a crowded transport was supposed to end all discussion of Japan taking some responsibility here. Wouldn't be too hard to find similar transports (and emergency rooms) in the US--only the faces wouldn't be absolutely and utterly homogenous.