> This couldn't be further from the truth.
Let's wait for facts (ie. the accident report) before making such statements.
> There was confusion and no evacuation was ordered by the crew over the PA.
Of course there was confusion, that is inevitable. Again, we do not have solid information on what PAs were made, but from the looks of the damage and the likely accident sequence, the main avionics bay was pretty much completely destroyed. It's fairly likely the pilots were not able to make any evacuation order by PA on account of half the plane's electronics being on fire a kilometre behind them.
> The passengers managed it themselves. If it were a crew-directed evacuation they would have blocked the door leading to the still-running engine as you pointed out.
Video clearly shows an orderly evacuation, supervised by cabin crew, who can be seen directing from the exits with flashlights and leaving last. I don't know where you got the idea it was passenger managed from. It appears that the exits facing the worst of the fire were not deployed which is additional evidence of a properly managed evacuation. I don't know their SOP wrt. running engines, or if this engine was even 'running' and not just freewheeling (it doesn't seem to be producing meaningful air movement), but it appears they made a rational decision to use the R1 exit, since everyone survived and the evacuation was pretty quick (~2 minutes).
> It took the firefighters over six minutes to respond to the site of the burning aircraft. In the US and Europe this would be unheard of, the fire brigade would be rolling as soon as the aircraft hit the ground.
I haven't found video of the very early moments after the aircraft stopped, but there appears to already be foam laid down under and on the aircraft and at least two trucks attending during the late stages of the evacuation, so I don't know where you got this 6 minutes from. Given the circumstances, the crew waiting 6 minutes to begin evacuating doesn't sound reasonable.
> The only reason hundreds of people are not dead is directly attributable to the Japanese being an overly polite and orderly culture.
Yes, the passengers are also an important part of an effective evacuation, and it is why you should not ignore the safety briefing and follow the instructions of the crew. Good on the passengers for effecting a successful evacuation in this case. You might well be right it would have gone down differently elsewhere, with the eventual report yet again espousing the importance of leaving the baggage behind and maintaining order. This is reason to praise the passengers' behaviour and learn from it, not somehow criticize it as 'overly polite and orderly'.
I am sure there were things that could have been done better, but this was a successful and quick evacuation. It's far too early to decide what went well and what could be done better, but it's pretty clear that it was a good job - everyone got out quickly and with minimal injury.