[muawiyah]

No, the Japanese have a long history of turning on a dime ~ of being great warriors involved in warrior things and thinking like warriors, and then in the next moment sitting around cutting craftpaper and folding rice paper.

The Chinese have a track record of being more practical and less prone to total societal transformations.

Part of this arises out of the multi-ethnic character of the Japanese body politic. (The ethnicities are still there but they were reflected in land ownership, class structures, and the position of the ruling caste ~ the royal family and the Daimyo families (mostly descended from the 6th century invaders who came from Siberia to take over both Korea and Japan)).

I doubt Henry studied the Far East enough to have figured out much more than a cursory outline.

[Sawdring]

The Chinese have a track record of being more practical and less prone to total societal transformations.

I guess if you want to look at the practical side of things you should ask yourself who has nuclear tipped ICBM's aimed at US allies and the US homeland.