Conservative elements of a culture will always want to preserve their childhoods and see it around them throughout their entire lives.
They will go to great lengths to keep the view of the world from their childhoods alive in the greater culture.
The fact is, Japanese culture has changed DRAMATICALLY in the last 100 years. What are the conservative elements in Japanese culture wishing to preserve?
THEIR OWN childhoods were a changed culture from that of THEIR parents.
And likewise, culture continues to change.
What are they preserving, exactly?