Thanks mhaze for your comments, they covered some of my gaps over a bit.

I still think Japan embodies the west in very different ways than the way it's embodied throughout the western diaspora in terms of democracy, women, etc rightly or wrongly. I think it's good that Japan has embraced western principles on it's own terms ... somewhat. It can still be a fairly authoritarian place from a western perspective, but there is a check on the extremes of power due to the idea of "Family Japan". The West seems to be more patient with ideas such as 'creative destruction' than Japan, perhaps because of their relative sizes. The Keiretsu for example are seemingly still an important factor in Japan (some see this as a sign of socialism but I see business as more shackled to Shinto/ Confucist Traditionalism than Deng Marxism in this case- overall a good thing in my view).

I understand that Woke/ Marxism/ Maoism has made a significant play for hearts and minds in Japan in the last ten years, perhaps influenced by their scary neighbour.