In my experience, 'isshokenmei' is a rote expression drilled in Japanese schoolkids from nursery school on. As such, it is long since drained of any "deep" meaning to your average Japanese. I'm not sure a parent exhorting a Japanese kid to do well on a test with "isshokenmei" is saying much more than "Try your best."

You are absolutely right about Japanese science not being pre-eminent in the world and why. For related reasons I am leaving the East altogether - the action is in the US (and the West in general), and looks to stay there for a long time.

And Tim Tyler, viewing Japanese culture as a shabby simulacrum of Chinese culture makes you sound like an executive at GM or Ford from the 70s talking about Toyota or Honda. Who's laughing now? Sure Japanese culture was heavily, heavily influenced in various waves by China - that is, pre 19th-century China, going back to the 6th and 7th centuries. I would say today foreign influence on Japan emanates almost exclusively from the West, particularly the US (maybe a little pop culture from Korea). If anything, these days China is copying Japan.