EAST MEETS WEST

Regarding “East Meets West Virginia,” by Bill Steigerwald (Aug. 5): It would appear that to the Japanese we are a very interesting ant farm. Average education is poor, work habits poor, industry declining; we are a nation of fast-food and video stores.

I am not a doomsday prophet, but perhaps a healthy influence from the Japanese would be a bitter-tasting but effective medicine for our national ills. Our welfare system perpetuates itself, our factories close, our indulgences are heroic. We have a drug problem, an education problem, failing savings and loans and banks, crime, homelessness and a birth rate that portends greater and greater demands on our social services.

As the student said, “Japan small, U.S. big.” We are a tempting land mass to a population of disciplined, hard-working people who are growing out of their island.

WILLIAM CUDDY

Sherman Oaks