kewp, another important difference is that, to my knowledge, the loans in Japan were more traditional. That is to say, you didn’t have the case where someone’s payment doubled from one month to the next as the initial terms expired. These resets are what will force many of these people to turn in the keys, not the fact that they are lazy or corrupt or immoral (although they may well be!)
Also, with the new bankruptcy laws, getting out from under this debt maybe more difficult than in the past.