Too Much Identity

Sometimes it feels like there's too much identity in being Japanese for the Japanese. I suppose I only have this opinion because I'm American. If I were European, I would probably completely understand. It's just a bit annoying when people do things ONLY because of culture or when they explain why they do the things they do. Sometimes, Japanese people will tell me that the reason they do this or that is because of some incident that happened hundreds of years ago. Maybe this kind of thing happened in Europe and was spread to America in some way. Maybe it's worse that that might happen and I don't even know the origin unlike the Japanese. It's just something that can be a huge difference between basic ways of thinking for an American and a Japanese person. Too much pre-set identity.