Perhaps Facebook activities are based on the hyper-active and multi-tasking American behavior patterns, which drive Japanese and Europeans crazy.

FORBES: The Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and Social Networking in Japan

Dietary patterns associated with fall-related fracture in elderly Japanese: a population based prospective study.

FORBES: Chinese Medicine Infiltrates Scientific Publishing

The implications for business are that healthy Japanese pensioners are living normal lives for longer: in other words, they have consumption patterns that are not that different from those of younger people, although they tend to spend more on services and less on goods.

ECONOMIST: The grey market

The wide diversity of patterns reflects a variety of influences, ranging from Arabic calligraphy, European bouquets and Chinese phoenixes to Japanese cherry blossoms and Indian or Persian peacocks.

UNESCO: Culture