I can tell you one thing, even though I agree the aircraft can be flown more efficiently no doubt about that...us gaijin don't know where this efficiency should stop and keep coming up with brilliant ideas to make it always a little bit more efficient (fuel policy, reduced flaps landings, reduced use of brakes etc etc..) until that one time when it becomes tight instead of efficient..
I guess the process is stopped from the start in Japan..so this is the mentality behind it, as strange as it may seem to the rest of the world..