It's kinda ironic, it's a thread about communication and right now we fail to understand each others.
I'll take your initial post and do like you did previously :
How long did you stay ?
Is it each individuals ability to communicate that astonish you or the japanese language in general ?
Since you ask the question, my opinion is that japanese just have the same diversity of words and expressions that any other languages have. I know dozen of expressions just to say good bye and I'm not a native.
Actually, the different level of politeness and formalities can make it even more diversified than other languages.
Of course, the more formal you get, the more of a "standard" pattern you get as there is less and less place for diversity.
Western cultures ? Sorry but you can't really put ALL the different western cultures into the same basket. I'm french and my culture is different from the english or any others dozen of different western cultures. In that way of thinking, we could put all the asians cultures in the same basket, chineses, thai, lao, vietnameses, ect. and that would totally change the datas.
Let's stick to American culture, that would be much more simple.
Once again, I don't know how you got that perception, like I said before, japanese language is as diversified as english.
Maybe you feel like japanese always use the same correct words because you always had to deal with them in formal situations. If you talk with youngs persons in informal situations, you will hear a vast varieties of different expressions for greetings as well.
You are generalizing based on your perceptions and own experiences.
I know many people who listen perfectly to what I have to say and reply accordingly. It's different for each individuals and each situations.
Who ? In what situations ? Maybe it's true in some particulars situations but false in others. True with some people and false with others.
One point you should consider is that you are a foreigner. They might make extraordinary efforts to make you feel at ease or whatever.
A foreigner dealing with locals is different from a local dealing with other locals.
In overall, I think japanese is a much more polite and respectuous culture than americans. The politeness is hierarchized. If you constantly communicated as a "customer" or a "guest", you might have the feeling that japanese are just sooooo respectuous and servile.
As a foreigner, the common japanese can perceive you as being "a guest of Japan" and treat you that way. The more you establish and the less this perception will be true.
Ehhh... I don't know !!!
Wow, you are literally taking this thread to another level.
Once again, you bring this debate into a whole new questions.
We rules, we are humans dude
But the question would be : "we would be failing compared to what standards ?"
We are the creatures with the best communication skills of the planet.
We have no superiors models.