根据以下内容回答题： As contrasts go，there are few other pairs of culture as distinct from each other as the Japa-nese and the Americans．Japan’s many centuries of history and especially its Buddhist heritage have given the Japanese an attitude of repose（从容）——the best course is to let it be：When the time is ripe，things will work out by．themselves．America，on the other hand，is just a few centuries old and displays an almost volcanic liveliness and restlessness．For the Japanese，social harmony has a prior claim in every circumstance；for the Americans，harmony is the result of the rational interaction of free and fair-minded people．One does not lightly move from traditions in Japan，many of which are centuries old；in the United States，the habits and attitudes of even one’S parent’S generation are suspect． Every cuhure，through its legal and institutional arrangements，mirrors the society’S reso-lution of some basic human problems．These can provide a useful framework for the analysis of cuhural differences．Organizations also face the same problems and usually take their cue from the prevailing culture in designing solutions to these problems．This suggests that the perspec-tive provided by viewing cuhure through the framework of this problem will be useful for organi-zational analysis as well．The following sections present a discussion of such a framework in the context of the contrast between Japan and the United States． Before this is presented，however，we must alert the reader that the differences are stated here as being sharper than they may be in reality．On each of the aspects discussed later，there is naturally considerable variation within each culture，because examples demonstrating the cul-tural reality opposite to the one described in this book can be found easily．Thus，the following discussion should be viewed in the way it is presented，as generalizations and tendencies rather than as absolutes． Cultural differences between the Japanese and the Americans are the__________ ．