building a social hierarchy

I was studying for my Geography midterm tomorrow today. In the East Asia chapter of my book, I read about China, Japan, and Korea and their various economic, cultural, and social constructs. As I was reading, I thought about Japan's senpai-kouhai system, Korea's sunbae-dongsaeng system, and then wondered why China didn't have something like that.

This whole idea--it's probably a cultural thing, structured by an Asian society and way of thinking, and I understand that. What makes me marvel is how I've been influenced by this culture even an entire ocean and continent away, because I want that kind of social hierarchy structure. I want to be someone's 姐姐, someone's お姉さん, someone's 언니 or 누나. I want to be someone's 先輩 or 선배. Furthermore, I also want to be someone's 妹妹 or 後輩, 동생.

Is it unnatural? Shouldn't we stress equality for all? It certainly seems to be the Western viewpoint, especially in the United States, but I don't see how supporting a lowerclassman-upperclassman, junior-senior hierarchical system contradicts the belief of equality. Truth be told, people are not equal: we are too different, and our age and experiences and personalities set us apart from each other. We may be equal in that no one of us is worth more or less than any other of us, but we are not equal in regards to experience. That is why we do accord respect to "those who came before", to our seniors. That is why I think this social construct is not necessarily a bad thing--not scandalous or outrageous or oppressive or demeaning. It might even be beneficial.

And I want it. I want that kind of system of support and encouragement, of mentoring and advice, of respect and submission. I want this kind of structure in my life, where I know exactly where I fit in, exactly where I stand in my relationships with other people, especially those I don't know well (since, obviously, family and friendship transcend this basic hierarchy).

I wonder what someone thoroughly Western would think of this opinion. I've shared these thoughts with people before (V and A, off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are others), but they were all Asian. They were both familiar with the type of relationship structure I was talking about and in general agreement with my opinion. I really do think it's an Asian mindset, the result of cultural influence. Am I wrong? Am I strange for wanting this?