The Alienization of the Japanese people

I can fully understand how Japan is perceived as an exotic country, especially from the viewpoint of a non-Asian country, and it's of course true that there are some interesting peculiarities in Japanese customs and culture. However, if given some thought, I'm sure that this is true for most cultures, although the international exposure of local oddities is probably much lower than for the Japanese.

But at the heart of it all, Japanese are people like any other once you get through the cultural barriers. This might be easier said than done since it is difficult without strong knowledge of the Japanese language. Something that I do find extremely annoying though is when people, either knowingly or due to ignorance, throws gasoline onto the fire to reinforce how alien and different the Japanese are from everyone else in the world... Of course, in the world of business and corporate stupidity, due to trying to compress everything into an executive summary that ends up saying nothing at all, this can take pretty interesting forms.

In a recent Japanese healthcare market report from a US company I looked through in work, I found the below description on Japanese patients and their views versus physicians:

"The situation is sustained by the Japanese beliefs in conforming and an unwillingness to question seniority and/or implied authority. The honorific term for a medical doctor, “sensei”, is the same as that used for a teacher, and presumes that as the trained expert, the doctor knows best. Patients are extremely unlikely to dare to question the treatment their physician has decided upon. In many cases, similarly, the doctor feels under no obligation to explain even the basics of the treatment or regime they are prescribing, and may not discuss possible side effects." .

.
Like most things like this, the text takes a basis from reality, although an outdated one (not taking into account that Japan, Japanese people and the culture has changed in the last ~15 years), a misunderstanding of the word "sensei" (very common and it's not as fantastic to be called a "sensei" as some people might think, you could be the expert in building Gundam models and be sure to find someone that is impressed enough that they label you a sensei) and simplifies thing into pure stupidity.

My favorite part is how the text boldly states that “(The Japanese patients) presumes that as the trained expert, the doctor knows best”. I wonder how society works outside Japan if people do not presume that a trained expert knows best? In the West, when riding an airplane, does this mean that all the passengers question that the pilot knows best? Just because he/she is a trained expert it doesn’t mean that that persons judgement should be trusted?

Don't get me wrong, I don't have any problems with people poking fun at some of the more interesting oddities of Japanese culture (or Swedish for that matter, plenty of material there too), but these broad generalizations based on outdated stereotypes that I sometimes come across in business oriented material really annoys me.