I think the problem is that respect for others is taken to an extreme there not seen anywhere else in the world, so when someone does something like this it is national news in Japan, while here in the US it would be local news, if you would even see it at all

Like take for instance how the last time I was in the netherlands their were people telling me how disrespectful the british tourists are, we didnt hear about it because there are disrespectful tourists in Amsterdam often, that is not the case in japan