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Climate really helps define how one's attitude comes about.  Although traffic in LA tends to roughen people's moods, I think the general warm climate and beaches help to generate a very relaxing environment.  Once you're out of traffic and at the office, you generally can feel quite comfortable at work.  Office settings tend to be pretty relaxed compared to the more formal and stiff environments here in Japan.

On the other hand, Tokyo is just filled with I'd say up to 60% bad weather.  It's pretty rare for a month to go by without at least one droplet of rain.  And when it rains, you don't see a few droplets, but often a full day's worth of drizzling up to typhoons (like today).  The mood is far more somber out here with people dressing formally and their behavior more rigid.  If the climate were any warmer and consistently sunny, I would heavily doubt that people could continue wearing suits and ties to the office on a daily basis.

I can't help to think that the formal wear and the weather play such huge roles in making Tokyo such an uptight culture.  I'm not saying everyone has a stick up their ass, but imagine if people were allowed to go to work in shorts and tshirt and didn't have to deal with the crappy weather?  I think people would wear a lot more smiles.

In LA, I would meet various people from other cities in the country.  My professor once told me that when you move to some place like LA (in coming from Indiana), you never really want to go back, especially in dealing with the winters out there.  Or my coworker, who was from Seattle, mentioned how when you look outside and see the sun on a daily basis, you gotta really love LA.

Now, here miserable and trapped in my dinky apartment, I'm starting to see a point.