forget,
Are we thinking about the same DC-8 incident? If it was JAL into the harbour near Haneda, it was a suicidal captain who pushed the nose down to end his life but not before the crew tried to restrain him. That was most definitely not a cultural problem. Having lived in Japan for over 10 years and having kept some ties with the country, it is changing. While there may have been a strong "captain rules" mentality in the past, I believe it is not so evident now.