If it means anything to anyone, Matthew Geiger is from CERT (cert.org) not US-CERT. There is actually a big difference - more credibility.

erroneus, I think you hit it spot on with your points. I spent some time working in Japan and concerning the cultural aspects, I made the same observations that you mentioned. Although strong in technical diversity and innovation, perhaps Japan needs to expand its diversity and innovation in the area of business culture.

I am currently getting my Masters in Information Systems with a specialty in security. I have 15 years experience in the field including senior executive and operations targeting bad actors. However, in one of my classes, the TA would give me poor grades on my essays whenever I would write about and cite from my professional experiences and research. I decided from then on to just regurgitate the material from the PowerPoints and reading material (much of which I disagreed with, or was outdated). Guess what? My grades improved drastically. The funny thing was that the TA was a lifetime student with barely any real life professional experience.