Textbook Tripe
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Let me first say that I think some of these things are worth talking about and valuable to understanding the modern state of the United States of America. Having said that, let me say that it is ridiculous to use them as the top keywords necessary for obtaining a basic grasp of the country and its position in the world. I present to you the 4-word-long list found on pages 15 and 16 of The English Odyssey (英語百科). Incredulous is not the right word. Saddened or dismayed might be more accurate.
1) WASP
2) Civil Rights Movement
3) Affirmative Action
4) Ebonics
That’s it. The list of keywords necessary for comprehending America. Anybody but me sensing an agenda in this textbook? Where are words like “representative government,” “checks and balances,” “constitutional democracy,” “democratic republic,” “freedom,” or even the archaic language that marked into our history the concept of humanity’s “unalienable rights?” Ha ha. Nowhere to be found. You see, America is about racial conflict. No more, no less. All bad history, no good history. Sigh. Sure, there are tensions in America, but of all countries, Japan? If I had to pick the most important concept out of the above, I’d go with the Civil Rights movement, hands down. But seriously. There is more to America than this, folks. I just hope that some students go on to discover what can really be like. 
There are faults in every country, but for a cursory overview of America, this is adamantly bleak. Uncool, textbook. Uncool.
This book is hard to track down online. The ISBN is 4-469-34239-4. It’s put out by Taishukan Publishing (website is crappy, but works - may take forced refreshing and re-encoding of characters, though), and is listed in an Excel file alongside other English texts like the Genius, Captain, and Departure books. Nice. Just thought you’d like to know. (I’ll get some pictures up later, if possible.) In the meantime, what four words would you choose as keywords to represent your country to Japanese school kids who’ve never seen it? There are entries about loads of other countries, so I’m willing to bet that yours is in there too. Thoughts?